I bring this up because of this discussion of whether the police should be able to point infrared cameras at your home. The legal discussion got derailed by the technical belief that such cameras can see inside buildings or under your clothing -- which would be a huge invasion of privacy. But they can't do that. Infrared cameras can only see the outsides of things, like normal cameras.
It's easy to see why people would be confused, as magical infrared imagining is a staple of TV shows and movies. In the movies, police can regularly see everything that happens inside buildings. For example, the screen shots below show the heroes looking through walls, seeing people walking behind them, which is impossible in reality:
