

BlackOps Plastics (Opaque to the eye, transparent for cameras) - moe
http://qwonn.com/black-ops-plastics.html

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unwind
That sure looks like magic. Cool!

It feels as if some sleight of hand is hiding in the way they're explaining
it, that they've developed a "material that black & white cameras can see
through, BUT THE HUMAN EYE CANNOT". The way I see it (heh), the human idea
can't "see through" any material, because seeing is not an active process like
that makes it sound.

Some materials block radiation from reaching our eyes, while some do not.
Those that don't, appear transparent or translucent.

So, I would assume that this plastic blocks wavelengths that are visible to
us, but that b&w video cameras have a slightly wider range of wavelengths
where they are sensitive, and the material isn't blocking those.

So now it will become routine for counter-surveillance folks to smash all
black plastic objects when sweeping a room? :)

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stewartbutler
My guess is that it is just a plastic that is IR-transparent and visible-
opaque, viewed by a camera with no IR filter. Actually fairly common - coke
cola is IR-transparent. Not sure you can get an image through it, but I
wouldn't be surprised.

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sp332
Yup, you can see through Coke by opening up a cheap webcam and removing the IR
filter. You can even make an IR-only camera by replacing the filter with a
piece of exposed film, which is black in the visible spectrum and but lets IR
light through. <http://www.hoagieshouse.com/IR/>

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gduffy
This type of plastic is used to shield LEDs in many infrared remote controls
(TV, stereo, etc).

We used a variant of it to make the entire "puck" of the Dropcam
(<http://www.dropcam.com>) so that you wouldn't have to see the ugly IR
emitters we use for night vision.

~~~
BryanB55
Interesting. I've been looking into dropcam. How secure are wifi cameras like
this? How easy it for someone to hack into them and be able to view a live
feed of my house? Is there a way to secure them better than just having a
strong wifi password? Encryption? What about the server that the feed passes
through, does it actually pass through a dropcam server or can I connect from
my cell phone directly to my home network to obtain the feed?

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gduffy
Cool! Here's the lowdown on security: Dropcams encrypt all communications with
TLS and use client certs + server certs, so they're resistant to sniffing and
man-in-the-middle attacks even on open Wi-Fi networks.

Video does pass through our servers for NAT traversal, automated analysis
(e.g. for motion/audio event detection), conversion, and (optional) storage.
Local streaming when on the same network is "in work" as an optimization.
Dropcam employees (including me, the CEO) are restricted from viewing your
video by both technical and policy-based measures.

It's likely safer than storing video yourself. A burglar can steal any
locally-stored video, and security bugs are even more likely to occur on your
home network / devices than with a Dropcam since our software is continuously
kept up-to-date (both server-side and OTA updates to cameras).

It's definitely safer than most other IP cameras which encourage you to use
dyndns + open a port on your router. With those systems, don't forget to
change the default password like 95% of people do, and also hope like hell
that they don't have remote scripting vulnerabilities on their 2-year old
firmware.

At Dropcam, we are incentivized to make sure you are the only one who can view
your video, since you are our customer and we provide a service (not just a
one-time sale). The only time we let others view your video is if you
explicitly choose to share it.

Hope this helps, and thanks for considering Dropcam!

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asteli
Fun fact: if you have dark eyes, taking photographs of yourself in near-
infrared will make your iris' appear light, which is good if you're going for
that trendy vampire look. I'm not really impressed by the technology behind
this - IR pass plastics have been around for ages (the black plastic window on
the front of your TV remote is an example).

But as for these guys...

"We have developed a technology to create covert concealment devices out of a
material that black & white cameras can see through, BUT THE HUMAN EYE
CANNOT!"

I may be wrong, but it seems to me that what they "developed" was a
relationship with an injection molding company, whom they asked to use a
slightly different, but still common plastic.

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hop
The whole AppleTV body is molded in a similar material.

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wtvanhest
I could be wrong, but this seems like they are using an IR camera, then
inverting the images once they are taken.

If they had a specific type of plastic, it is unlikely they would need to
produce the multitude of objects they did. Why on earth would they bother with
some of those?

~~~
sturmeh
If it was as simple as that, couldn't they just process the live IR feed
through a negative/inversion filter to achieve what they are doing?

~~~
wtvanhest
No. All cameras have a IR filter over the sensor. You would need to remove
that first which specialists on the web can do.

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51Cards
This is a very interesting product but the wording of the intro paragraph
seems odd to me.

"We have developed a technology to create covert concealment devices out of a
material that black & white cameras can see through."

I may be picking semantics here but I'm unclear... have they developed the
plastic itself, or developed covert camera containers out of another
manufacturer's material? The containers are a great idea in their field but
actually having engineered the plastic itself would be even more impressive.

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antman
It could be a polarizing material that polarization changes angle across the
surface, so that opposite sides are at 90 degrees difference. You can see from
the inside with slightly changed color, but you can't see through two of the
opposite sides of the glass.

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tbourdon
I want the other way around so I can put a piece over my license plate.

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TeMPOraL
Just wait until somebody starts selling clothes made out of this material
without telling people what they're buying...

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MidwestMuster
Goodrich ISR sensor equipment has been able to do this for a while regardless
of the type of plastic for the purpose of quality control in product
containers:

<http://www.sensorsinc.com/image_powderswirenlarge.html> ... "While a visible
camera cannot see through plastics, these same plastics are transparent with
the short wave infrared. Goodrich ISR-P cameras can see through plastic to
detect the fill level of a product. This capability is extremely helpful in
quality control and process control applications."

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zashapiro
Somebody make a teddy bear out of this material and put it on a mantle a la
The Parent Trap. It'll look like Metal Mario from Mario N64 and will keep your
house totally safe. Bonus points if you put a red headband on it or anything
else to make it look like a ninja

