A method carried out at a device (700), of limiting visual information that can be stored or transmitted captures a visual image (408). Whenever a control signal is detected (412) at the device (700), an optical symbol recognition of the image is performed. The method further includes comparing symbols generated by the optical symbol recognition routine to one or more predetermined symbols. When a symbol match to one or more predetermined symbols is generated, at least a portion of the visual image (408) is obscured.