Once while messing with a laser pointer, my brother and I pointed it at a camera in the entry to the grocery store with a monitor up. The monitor immediately went to snow which was quite unexpected for us. We switched the laser pointer off and the screen came back.<p>This is quite different than the effect noted here, assumedly the sensor observed a signal out of range and passed that downstream.<p>I have also heard of people getting permanent banding on their point and shoot sensors from sun-focused time lapses [0]. So my question becomes, while this may be interesting from a privacy perspective, to be able to stop cameras from being able to see you temporarily, what is the potential to permanently damage a camera?<p>[0] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nikonians.org&#x2F;forums&#x2F;dcboard.php?potential-ccd-imager-burnout-&amp;forum=153&amp;topic_id=2324&amp;mesg_id=2327&amp;page=" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nikonians.org&#x2F;forums&#x2F;dcboard.php?potential-ccd-im...</a>