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 we

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. This is quite different than the effect noted here, assumedly the sensor observed a signal out of range and passed that downstream. 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? [0] http://www.nikonians.org/forums/dcboard.php?potential-ccd-imager-burnout-&forum=153&topic_id=2324&mesg_id=2327&page= http://www.nikonians.org/forums/dcboard.php?potential-ccd-im...