1. There's no link to the hack.

Posted at 1:20AM on Aug 12th 2007 by Lambda_drive

2. fixed.

Posted at 1:37AM on Aug 12th 2007 by Will O'Brien

3. "If you keep reading you'll be agreeing not to use the knowledge you may gain to any unlawful behavior, but for educational usage only. C-h-a-o-s.com is not responsible for any broken items or limbs
You know the Drill. BEHAVE"

ahahahahah

Sure man, I'm just going to the bank for a bit; after soldering some stuff xD

Posted at 3:48AM on Aug 12th 2007 by SU-wreb_wroot

4. @SU-w/reb_w/root
just be sure to bring your face-covering-tingie ;), because with some cams it doesn't seem to work.

Posted at 6:24AM on Aug 12th 2007 by Madouc

5. What exactly are these crucial details? I don't follow...

Posted at 8:37AM on Aug 12th 2007 by TheKhakinator

6. It'd be more interesting if he got a camera and actually tested it, whose to say it would even blind a well made security camera...

And, even if it could, it would probably have to be within its field of view (so as to strike the ccd, and throw off the white balance) which would obviously lead to its discovery (unless it was REALLY well hidden) and thus, would leave more evidence than some B/W video of a guy in a mask would've in the first place.

To #5, probably the laser/scope calibration.

Posted at 9:44AM on Aug 12th 2007 by Wolf

7. if you did anything significantly illegal with it, wouldnt the first thing the FBI or detectives do is look at the CELL PHONE records for the nearest devices at the exact time of the 'incident' ?

Posted at 11:08AM on Aug 12th 2007 by mike

8. This won't work.

There was an investigation into blinding CCTV cameras with lasers on TV a few years ago. The problem is that the laser only blinds one colour, usually red. If you take the CCTV image and stip the red colour info (leaving just green and blue) you get an almost perfect picture again. Not sure how it affects B&W cameras.

Posted at 1:09PM on Aug 12th 2007 by MoJo

9. mojo is correct, and i expect that's the missing piece of crucial information. if you do this thinkin you wont be caught on video, you're in for a nasty surprise.

i wonder if you could do something similar with a well focused incandescent or something along those lines, just how bright does it need to be to make the cam useless?

Posted at 1:19PM on Aug 12th 2007 by dioxide

10. @mojo

what if you used red blue and green lasers then?

Posted at 1:36PM on Aug 12th 2007 by lonas

11. to #10

then you might as well just take the 10k that the 5 or so blue lasers would cost and pay someone to rob the place for you.

Posted at 1:59PM on Aug 12th 2007 by Wolf

12. Simply replace the laser with IR, will work better at night, but would blind the camera.

Posted at 2:09PM on Aug 12th 2007 by Unbelievr

13. Since when has IR ever blinded cameras? The only way that would work is if it was a IR camera itself.

Think of it this way, all day all things are bombarding all things with a very low energy light partially made by heat. So basically that means the camera should be blinded all the time.

The only way to make this work is a huge light source possibly a mix of ultraviolet and purple. (very high energy) that would cause Problems with the auto focus.

Of course a guys gonna go check that anyway, so why not just shoot it with a paintball gun.

Posted at 7:12PM on Aug 12th 2007 by Hockeytree

14. it might work... while it would only blind one color, I believe modern VCRs and high-quality cameras adjust the brightness/exposure of the entire picture, all color ranges included, to adjust for bad-quality or noisy inputs.

I think this is called 'automatic gain control'. In this case, cheap CCTV (like what you'd see in a TV investigation) would do better than expensive stuff, because cheap CCTV might not have it.

Posted at 9:26PM on Aug 12th 2007 by bobtheferret

15. They do make IR lasers however, they tend to weaken badly by distance.

Posted at 10:33PM on Aug 12th 2007 by Justathought

16. Seems to me if you're going to all this trouble to align the laser in advance, call the cell phone, activate the laser to blind the camera just to walk past it -- but then you need to spend a fortune on blue lasers and a bit on green ones, then find an IR source as well ---

Just attach a paint ball gun to that scope instead. Seems to me a paint ball will absolutely take the camera out in a way that you'd know it worked. Its not like blinding the camera is going to be secret since any secure guard is going to notice the camera going pure-whiteout.

Posted at 11:11PM on Aug 12th 2007 by Andrew Pollack

17. since you already have the rifle scope, add the rifle and shoot out the camera! unless you know the exact camera, laser blinding is 50/50. some dome cameras have a reflective 'one way' type of material for just such attacks. the camera can see out but you (or your laser) can't see in.

Posted at 8:15AM on Aug 13th 2007 by a.nony.moose

18. @Hockeytree

Digital cameras can see IR light sources. Try pointing a remote control at your digital camera. However, you would need a very powerful source to be able blind a camera.

Posted at 8:16AM on Aug 13th 2007 by JoE

19. @17

a one way reflectiv material wouldn't make a difference to a laser blinding attack. it stops light getting out so you can't see the where the camera is poining, but light can still get in for the camera to work. so that means that the laser light can stil get in and (maybe) blind the camer

but then again, if you can't see where the camera is pointing, how do you know where to poin the laser?

and wouldn't the camera see you setting this up, either catching you in the act, or making sure someone (a security guard) goes to find out what the device is/remove it/steal your mobile phone :)

Posted at 9:20AM on Aug 13th 2007 by Peter

20. I'm interested in this hack not for the remote video blinder but for the awesome mount and laser scope. I've been wanting to build one to see if a laser puts out enough light to trick a street lamp into shutting off. Nefarious Halloween plans I have.

Posted at 9:41AM on Aug 13th 2007 by snorkle256