Photo Credit: Mayu Kanamori
My friend and I were recently discussing how much more advanced the technologies of the U.S. intelligence and military apparatuses are, compared to what is available to civilians. During this conversation, I speculated about “pinhole cameras and microphones being in various electronic devices” such as our TVs, monitors, stereos, Blu-ray/DVD players, cable/satellite boxes, etc. After all, how many people actually disassemble these things to see what they’re made of? Usually if someone has an issue with their electronic device they throw it away and buy a new one, or they take it to a “specialist” to have it fixed. This conversation inspired me to find out if my paranoid suspicion has any validation. This what I found:
- The first pinhole camera was made in 1952 just 5 years after the CIA was created.
https://www.google.com/patents/US2751825 - A decade and a half later the first miniature microphone was invented.
https://www.google.com/patents/US3439128 - Then in 2005 things get very interesting with the “Integral eye-path alignment on telephony and computer video devices using a pinhole image sensing device.”
http://www.google.com/patents/US6888562
“The imaging device in an embodiment of the present invention may be disposed behind the image plane of the visual display device, and the aperture of the at least one imaging device may be aligned with a transparent window within the active area of the visual display device. In addition, the optical characteristics of the visual display device in the viewing area proximate the transparent window may be adapted to minimize the visibility of the opening.”
- 8 months later the plot thickens with the “Integrated sensing display.”
https://www.google.com/patents/US20060007222
“The invention pertains to an integrated sensing display. The integrated sensing display includes both display elements and image sensing elements (image elements). As a result, the integrated sensing device can not only output images (e.g., as a display) but also input images (e.g., as a camera).
The present invention involves a series of image elements, each one corresponding to a single pixel, that are regularly distributed in housings in a two-dimensional array among display pixels of a display device. The display device can, for example, be a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel. Each of the image elements has both a sensor and a lens. The lens is specific to the individual sensor and created at fabrication.
A panel created from an integrated, embedded macro CCD would thus be able to both display and record visual information simultaneously, without the use of an external video capture device. Simply put, the same panel could display a video conference while also recording the participant sitting in front of it.”
- Finally, in 2008 we have the “integrated display having multiple capture devices.”
http://www.google.com/patents/US20080106629
“Accordance with this invention, there is provided an integrated imaging apparatus for displaying images while capturing images of a scene, comprising:
a) an electronic display having an array of display pixels which are used to display image content;
b) a plurality of apertures are integrated within the display, wherein each of the apertures includes at least one partially transparent pixel; and
c) a plurality of capture devices each of which captures an image, and includes at least a lens and an image sensor array; wherein each capture device is operatively associated with at least part of a particular aperture of the display; and wherein the partially transparent pixels also provide light for image content display.”
When I began looking into this, I had no expectations that my speculation would be validated by US patents. Who cares about what some CIA created group is wreaking havoc half-way across the globe? This IS happening right here, right now. We must all awaken to the cold, hard, reality that we live in. The “American Dream” has now become “The American Nightmare.”
Intellectual Revolution 