3d ago

If I invented a shirt that caused cameras to be damaged when filmed/photographed, would I be committing a crime by wearing the shirt at events with cameras?

I was thinking about those outfits celebrities wear that mess with flash photography equipment, and I was watching a dude on TV just now whose shirt pattern was going apeshit because of the camera, and I wondered if there could ever be a pattern or material that, when filmed, caused the camera irreversible damage. And if that were physically possible, I wondered if intentionally showing up to camera-heavy events wearing said shirt would constitute a crime on my part.

It's just a shirt after all. It's not like I'm grabbing a camera and smashing it on the ground. But at the same time, I know it will have that effect, so I'm accountable. But it's not like my shirt is emitting damaging laser beams or anything, it's entirely passive.

Also, is there anything like this scenario in real life/law?

87 comments

ITT: People debating whether such a shirt is possible and not answering the actual question.
- Im all for this. Im all for all the side discussions that emerge from a post like this
Creating something that damages nearby electronics? Yeah, that's probably not going to fly. It really doesn't matter if it only damages things that actively film/photograph you. Like, it'd be illegal if I walked up and hammered every camera that photographed me too.
- It'd also be illegal to point a laser light into a camera to damage the sensor
if you invent some passive way to damage tech by just being in its vicinity. not only would it be illegal. it would be a super weapon.
- A weapon to surpass metal gear?
  
  Snake?!
  Snaaaaaake!!!
  
  A weapon to defeat metal gear
- How they gonna find out? No cameras to witness it
  
  eyes
- bro's got the level 9 EMP aura
Might not cause damage but there is the Camera Shy Hoodie: https://www.macpierce.com/the-camera-shy-hoodie
Instructions for how to DIY provided, so it doesn't have to be a hoodie.
- Although that really only works as long as the camera doesn't have an IR filter in place.
  
  If the camera has an IR filter, how would IR be able to make night viewing possible?
- there was an x-file episode, where the guy emits radiation, which pratically jams cameras, which also gives him xray vision. and also posess the ability regenerate a whole body.
- happy cake day
  
  Thanks :)
What you describe is simply not possible with a passive material. Funnily your example of something shooting lasers is probably the only thing that could come close to actual damage
The most you can do is one of those adversarial patterns that just confuses the white balance and autofocus. There is nothing you can do to affect someone shooting in manual mode
If you could damage a camera by pointing it at something, the manufacturer would fix the issue before selling it, because no one is buying a camera that does.
- If you could damage a camera by pointing it at something, the manufacturer would fix the issue before selling it, because no one is buying a camera that does.
  Recently, there were news about the LIDAR of Volvo cars destroying camera sensors when they were aimed into the direction of the IR laser beam. Yet, this is not a passive item.
  
  Even that was debated. No one proved it continued when you took another video, just that it broke the video of the lidar itself.
- Rick and Morty did this once, Rick simply put on a hat with a QR code that made a robot army recognize him as a high level commander.
  A few days ago I read a short story, comp.basilisk.faq by David Langford, which sketched a world in which specific images could irreversibly crash the brain, leading to a full scale worldwide ban on images on the internet and many other places as well. The story postulated hundreds of potential info-hazards with many of them simple enough to be applied via stencil and spray paint. Two of them are branch families of the Mandelbrot set 'and no we won't tell you where, do not look'
  Other examples;
  Snow Crash — Neal Stephenson
  Blit — David Langford
  The Atrocity Archives — Charles Stross
  Doctor Who — “Blink” / “The Time of the Doctor”
  SCP Foundation — SCP-096
  SCP-7387 (“The Mathematician’s Grin”)
  "Keep your eyes peeled or we'll peel them for you wholesale!"
- I am thinking if you could wear a mirror that would direct all the sunlight right at the camera. That would have to be an active tracking system, but wouldn't emit any light itself.
  
  It would have to be parabolic and yeah as you suggest you would either need a big robotic rig to aim it or you would have to be very very obvious with your intent to damage given there's pretty much only one specific place a given parabolic mirror can be to damage something else.
- You could maybe defeat LIDAR with retro reflectors or something. Probably not, but that's the only case it'd be possible realistically, since it's actively shooting lasers out that you could reflect back, without actually locating the camera. Anything else, yeah it'd require actively finding the camera and attacking it, since it is only receiving light. I guess if you wore something bright enough to damage any camera looking in your direction that would also work, but I don't think it'd be considered passive, and you'd also blind everyone else who can see you, probably permanently, and it'd require huge amounts of energy.
Pretty sure those devices that block cellphone and radio signals are illegal in public and people have gotten in legal trouble for that
- Yes you cannot start jamming common used frequencies, or any frequencies really
A similar thing that might be possible is to create a shirt that shows something that exploits a vulnerability in software. Some hardware can be bricked by software (this used to be the case for MacBook batteries).
Create sentient AI
Let AI take control of the internet upon receiving the QR code
Wear your t-shirt containing the QR code, show it to a camera connected to the internet
Now AI takes over the world
Black Mirror S7E4 - Plaything
- That was an episode that ended right where it started getting good. Not that the episode was bad before that, but it left me wanting more of that, not a jump to a new premise in the next episode.
  
  The story of this episofe had enough potential for a 6 episode spinoff series. Or maybe 4. Anyway 1 was way too soon.
- Is that Doctor Who?
  
  Same actor, but it’s from the latest season of black mirror
Strap a lidar emitter to yourself. Those car sensors have been shown to damage cameras.
If you want privacy from cameras, there are those hats with strong ir leds. Not sure how well they work.
- The Camera Shy Hoodie works.
  
  But what if I just want to buy one?
  I don't have time to make my own; I have a job.
It's not possible to damage cameras passively, so there isn't an answer. But if it was possible it probably would be made illegal to wear those around cameras.
- More like illegal to wear anywhere in the USA considering that we're quickly becoming a surveillance state.
  
  Quickly?
  Every country is already a surveillance state, and has been for multiple decades.
  Just look at Britain with cameras everywhere since at least the 1980's.
  Fucking Ring crap just doubled down on it, and idiot people don't even care they're providing the means. 1984 nailed it.
- maybe if its emitting lots radiation
- The sensors can definitely be damaged by too much light
  
  Right, I just mentioned that in another comment. I'm not quite sure it would count under OPs restrictions:
  The only pattern/material that comes close to what OP is looking for would be a parabolic mirror. If you attach one of these to your shirts and than stand at the exact right angle and distance to a camera, you could damage it. However that is already stretching “passive” because it would require a lot of deliberate actions to position yourself that way. And it pretty much only works when the sun is out.
My dude is trying to create a shirt that just continuously recharges and fires EMPs lol
maybe if its wearing a shirt with radioactive elements, usually its lethal amounts.
OK you're going to need CO2 gas, 2 mirrors, a glass. Container and a high voltage capacitor.
...
Step 3454674) charge the capacitor to 60078V.
Step 5746678) now run!
I think it depends on whether it’s active or passive. Active - e.g. a laser that damages a camera sensor, then yes, your device is actively damaging someone else’s camera - deliberate property damage. Passive - e.g. reflective strips so the exposure is bad, a pattern that is hard to focus on or similar- that’s fine - camera owner is making a decision to expose their gear to the environment. Even if, say, it’s a changing pattern that deceives the autofocus into working constantly (no, I don’t know exactly how that would work, but it’s the best I can think of at short notice) so it wears out faster.
It depends a lot where your story happens. Laws are quite different.
In my country, this little detail would save you ....
it's not like my shirt is emitting damaging laser beams or anything, it's entirely passive.
... unless you were deliberately wearing this for the purpose of doing such damage, and somebody could prove that.
I was watching a dude on TV just now whose shirt pattern was going apeshit because of the camera
Probably aliasing aka moiré effect. Harmless to the equipment.
Also, is there anything like this scenario in real life/law?
Speed bumps do something similar? Entirely passive, harmless, untill encountering certain equipment - a vehicle.
There, technically, hypothetically, could be a situation where such shirt is possible. But it would require a bug in the camera firmware, which would probably work on just one camera model. For example, a shirt with a pattern that tricks the camera into detecting more faces than it was designed to, causing a buffer overflow and a crash. Reasonable, although extremely unlikely
- I rolled my eyes at your optimism that such a material would exist but I took it all back by the end. Despite it being incredibly niche and unrealistic, that is by far the most clever suggestion in the thread!
Yes it would be. You're wearing it with clear intent of damaging equipment.
- "I had no idea it would do that. It was a gift/I found it at a thrift store/estate sale/in the trash."
  If you take away the intent, and with no obvious signs that your shirt is anything other than clothing, I don't know that it would be.
Looking to get an eicar QR code shirt?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIcbAMO6sxo
- That's incredible!
Best i can do is an Elton John style jacket. Dazzle them to hell and back.
- Now the kilt was only for day-to-day wear. In battle, we donned a full-length ballgown covered in sequins. The idea was to blind you opponent with luxury.
Invent?!? Bro, just use infrared LEDs 😂
- Not passive. Won't damage cameras.
  
  Yes not passive but you're not thinking big enough.
  
  No, but you will basically look like a bloomed-out version of this:
Damaging a camera is very different from something that makes taking a picture impossible. It doesn't matter if it is passive or active, only the end result is important.
A celebrity might get away with it when just trying to get home but would probably be required to pay for damage to the camera. Anyone at a large venue is going to be ruining everyone's cameras and that would be a huge deal.
No
I think Lidar can do this in certain circumstances. Not really practical for a shirt though.
- Not passive.
  
  True. I seem to have skipped that requirement when reading the post.
This reminds me of a movie or a tv show where people were sneaking into a compound and disabled the security cameras with a laser pointer.
The FCC has (had? Do they still exist?) rules about this, very straightforward.
Yeah even if it wasnt ilegal i bet people would find a way to charge you for it or stop you from using it to protect yourself.
Take the simple option of putting on a balaclava and smashing the cameras.
I just recently read a short story with a similar concept, all pictures and videos have been banned since there was found to be images that will kill anyone when they look at them.
When I get back to my anthology book I’ll look up what one it was, it’s in the Big Book of CyberPunk.
Linky to the story
To those saying it's not possible - modern cameras are highly complicated devices, constantly using little motors to change focus and exposure, driven by AI informed algorithms. Leave it up to some nerd to device a pattern and/or material that could maybe drive those sensors and motors nuts, or something like that.
- Unless they invent some kind of new force of physics all you can do here is reflect ambient light.
  The only pattern/material that comes close to what OP is looking for would be a parabolic mirror. If you attach one of these to your shirts and then stand at the exact right angle and distance to a camera, you could damage it. However that is already stretching "passive" because it would require a lot of deliberate actions to position yourself that way. And it pretty much only works when the sun is out.
  A even worse option would be wearing a shirt made from a radioactive material. (but is it still passive when you're using something radioactive?). And of course this wouldn't just damage the camera but also very much the cameraman, the wearer and anyone else that is around.

87 comments