antipaparazzi

Hailey Bieber says that she fantasizes about destroying paparazzi's cars with a baseball bat.

Aerial photography drones are highly useful pieces of technology that help us to broaden our visual horizons. However, popular consumer drones, from companies such as DJI, can cost well over a thousand dollars - something you certainly want to be careful with while flying. A new product on Kickstarter, SmartChutes, believes that they can help you to protect your drone in the event of a catastrophic mechanical failure or pilot error.

Back in January, we reported that a DJ named Chris Holmes had developed a line of "anti-paparazzi clothing" that ruins flash photographs at night by blowing the photos out with excessive reflected light. The idea gained traction, and now the "Flashback" line of apparel will soon be hitting the market.

While working as a DJ for Paul McCartney's world tours, Chris Holmes would often be disappointed when his reflective outfits would ruin flash photographs by blowing it out with light. Then one day he had an epiphany: why not turn things around and use the photo-ruining clothing "for a greater purpose"?

He then came up with the idea of creating a line of hyper-reflective clothing for men. The garments are designed for people who want to keep their privacy and don't want to appear in photos, namely, celebrities.

In a bill meant to bring California's privacy laws into a drone-heavy 21st century, the state just signed an act into law that will make it both illegal and very expensive for anybody seeking to invade someone else's privacy by taking photos of them with a camera drone.

Last Thursday, we told you about the newest anti-paparazzi bill to hit the California State Assembly. Focused on expanding the definition of harassment, SB 606 was drafted for the specific purpose of protecting the children of celebrities -- some hollywood actresses have already spoken out in support of the bill.

As with many a legal mater, however, not everyone is in favor of the bill. While most would agree that protecting children from being harassed by paparazzi is a worthy goal, the NPPA is now officially speaking out against SB 606, warning the public that this bill's vague wording "threatens first amendment rights."

Actresses Halle Berry and Jennifer Garner testified before the California Legislature on Tuesday in support of an anti-paparazzi bill that would ban taking pictures of children without their parents' written consent.

Back in July, after witnessing what essentially amounted to a high-speed car chase down the 101 between paparazzi and Justin Bieber, city councilman Dennis Zine predicted that these practices were "a tragedy waiting to happen." In an attempt to prevent similar incidents in the future, one of the photogs involved was even taken to court, charged under a new anti-paparazzi law.

Earlier this month, we featured an upcoming license plate frame that uses bright flashes of light to prevent traffic enforcement photographs. In the article, we mentioned that the concept could potentially be used by the rich and famous to avoid the constant gaze of paparazzi cameras. Turns out the rich and famous are already one step ahead of us.

Eclipse, the world's largest private yacht owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, already features a high-tech anti-photography system that uses lasers to seek out and deny cameras.

Freelance paparazzi photographer Paul Raef was arrested back on July 6th after chasing Justin Bieber on 101 Freeway, becoming the first person charged under a new anti-paparazzi law signed by former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Raef is currently facing four misdemeanors, with two of them being "following another vehicle too closely and reckless driving, with the intent to capture pictures for commercial gain." The punishment is up to one year in jail and $3,500 in fines.

The Los Angeles Times reports that his lawyers are now trying to have the anti-paparazzi law declared as unconstitutional, saying that it specifically and unfairly targets a certain group of news gatherers.