A new form of CCTV is able to turn a bustling city into a 'ghost town', in order to protect your privacy.
The system, as reported by New Scientist, is able to paint over humans and vehicles in live video.
While it might seem counter-intuitive (surely CCTV is for… watching people?) the idea actually makes a lot of sense. The aim is to allow in-store cameras to monitor how customers navigate stores, and build up an aggregate range of data to improve shops, stock and other elements of the retail environment, without transmitting pictures of their movements over the web.
Prism Skylabs' system is able to carry out that analysis itself while painting over the live video. You could also use it in the home - leaving cameras on all the time, but only having them record images of people when you're out.
Head over to New Scientist for more details and an interview with the company behind it.
