Sharp, at the request of Japan’s National Institute of Informatics, has developed a method to ruin the camcorder footage shot by pirates in movie theatres. By placing mega IR lights behind the screen (which are invisible to the human eye, of course), the light can tunnel through tiny holes that are already in screens for the passage of sound.

The result is a wash of light protruding from the screen, ruining camcorder footage. The other result is that, while you’ll still never buy a ticket to Wolverine, you’ll never get to know how bad the movie really was until, hungover on the couch one afternoon, you catch it on TV or something. [Fareastgizmos]

Note: Unfortunately, the IR blast won’t look nearly as awesome as it does in this photo. I imagine a lame grid of lights, not a reworking by JJ Abrams.