“Current techniques for locating snipers (besides a well-trained pair of eyes) involve sophisticated microphone setups, which are essentially useless until the sniper fires a shot, at which point it could be already too late. But the CS300K Counter Surveillance Camera, from a company called JETprotect, promises to spot sniper scopes, binoculars, cameras and even human eyeballs from hundreds of meters away using the ‘red-eye’ effect that’s wrecked so many photos over the years.
“The CS300K uses an integrated “unique wavelength GigE Vision IP camera” in conjunction with a “numerically controlled Class IIIb laser illuminator” and special automatic surveillance software to monitor for threats around the clock, providing warnings when something is spotted. The initial applications for the technology will involve military and security duties where prying eyes or scopes are a serious threat, but I’m sure it will eventually trickle down to the consumer level so you can use your cellphone to monitor that creepy guy on the subway who’s been occasionally staring at you for the past 15 minutes.” — Oh Gizmo
Cost?
“So will it cost $300,000?” — shadzow
Use for civillians?
“I could see from this article how it would be possible to do anti-piracy in theaters.” — Joe’s Cat
“Against a real trained sniper this piece of equipment is useless, the sniper will already know they have countermeasures installed and will use open/peep sights to eliminate alerts. Once the shot is delivered there is no use in alerting from sound, because you are already dead by then. It will dull down soldiers, lower their alertness exactly what is not needed by todays soldiers. I do see hollywood drooling over this technology though. Or paparazzi hunters.” — Jabelom
“Oh noes!! We can’t have people watching us while we’re watching them!! That should (and probably will be) against the law!!” — semajretrac
“Are you kidding? Make it into an iPhone app and all those paranoid people would buy it. I see a market of people who would by it. I hate creepy people on trains.” — Jessicat
“I thought these types of devices were banned by the Geneva Convention or some similar treaty/pact. I remember seeing something similar to this device except it was in handheld form. Looked like a pair of binos” — Brian Lawler
“I’ll just release a bunch of cats to confuse it.” — linfosoma
Anti-piracy.
Anti-paprazzi.
Paranoia.
“Superyacht” security. (Literal anti-piracy.)
How soon will there be and Android phone with lasers on it?
Cheap version:
Mid price version:
(Probably still very expensive.)
Confirmed, very expensive:
Implications for the future?
API and SDK for CS30oK suggest that the behavior for these cameras, even future, affordable versions, can be automated, so if you had something active it could monitor other cameras in the area and give alerts or do things if it detects cameras. Is this even possible given how many cameras there are in the world? Is this technology advanced enough to actually be utilized in real life? Research would suggest no, there really hasn’t been much coverage of this technology since 2010 CS300K came out. Before that, the Mirage 1200 and other versions appeared in 2008. Still, Wiki on “counter surveillance” doesn’t even talk about these, and CS300K is the first thing that comes up in Google search.