Many priceless art objects in museums and galleries are protected by CCTV cameras trained upon them. The operators are thus alerted to any attempted theft.

However, as any self respecting jewel thief knows, this precaution is easy to circumvent by simply making a looping tape of the scene, and playing this back through the camera cable. The momentary interuption of the picture while the connection is switched will certainly be missed by the operator, who, at the time will be:

1) studying a naughty magazine

2) arguing with a collegue about baseball scores

3) on the toilet

Even if he does notice the break, he will ascribe it to an temporary electrical fault, slap the monitor, and continue with one of the above.

I propose a simple device to thwart this devious technique. This is a box with a lamp on it. The box has a clock and a secret key code. Every second, the box combines the time and the key, and either flashes the lamp, or does not. A piece of software receiving the camera feed, which also knows the time and the correct key, watches for these flashes. If an incorrect sequence is received, the alarm is sounded.
-- Mickey the Fish, May 17 2007

I've seen security guards counting all the Wongs in the phonebook. That's a helluva lot of Wong numbers! [+]
-- theleopard, May 17 2007


Or you could just hang a clock on the wall in view of the security camera...
-- hippo, May 17 2007


Aha.. but then the cunning interloper would make a video with a clock in it.. set to the time when the robbery was to occur.
-- Mickey the Fish, May 17 2007


Yes, but my video camera includes clever CGI gubbins which inserts fake interlopers into the scene. Therefore, if I ever see a CCTV video without interlopers I'll know it's a fake video planted by interlopers.
-- hippo, May 17 2007


That is effing hilarious, hippo. Way to make me laugh out loud when I'm supposed to look like I am working.
-- GutPunchLullabies, May 17 2007


The public policy solution to this is to ban naughty magazines, baseball and going to the lavatory.
-- calum, May 17 2007



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