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Comment by IgorPartola | Hacker News Reader

Do note that blinding an enemy soldier is considered a really serious war crime by international law. You can kill them outright, not a crime. But you cannot blind them, including using a laser in this manner.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocol_on_Blinding_Laser_W...

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*permanent blindness

article mentions it as well. the lasers used in this article follow int'l law

This seems to be accounted for, according to the article:

> The main idea behind the system is that it modulates its output based its range to the target via using an internal laser range-finder. Thus the maximum eye-safe setting can be used throughout the engagement. This is also important because international law prohibits the employment of any such system that is deliberately designed to cause permanent blindness.

A Navy fact sheet on what it calls 'non-lethal optical distractors' reads:

    Non-lethal optical distracters are visible laser devices that have reversible optical effects on human targets. These types of non-blinding laser devices use highly directional optical energy to support several non-lethal capabilities, including:

It's only a war crime if it is intentional and the weapon has no other function except to cause blindness.

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