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Gaze-Tracking Software Protects Computer Privacy

Ponca City, We Love You writes "Two years ago computer security expert Bill Anderson read about scientific research on how the human eye moves as it reads and processes text and images. 'This obscure characteristic... suddenly struck me as (a solution to) a security problem,' says Anderson. With the help of a couple of software developers, Anderson developed a software program called Chameleon that tracks a viewer's gaze patterns and only allows an authorized user to read text on the screen, while everyone else sees gibberish. Chameleon uses gaze-tracking software and camera equipment to track an authorized reader's eyes to show only that one person the correct text. After a 15-second calibration period in which the software learns the viewer's gaze patterns, anyone looking over that user's shoulder sees dummy text that randomly and constantly changes. To tap the broader consumer market, Anderson built a more consumer-friendly version called PrivateEye, which can work with a simple Webcam to blur a user's monitor when he or she turns away. It also detects other faces in the background, and a small video screen pops up to alert the user that someone is looking at the screen. 'There have been inventions in the space of gaze-tracking. There have been inventions in the space of security,' says Anderson. 'But nobody has put the two ideas together, as far as we know.'"

13 of 134 comments (clear)

  1. Flat screens! by NineNine · · Score: 2, Funny

    I thought we already had this technology, and it was called "flat screen" technology. I swear I'm not a crotchety old man, but I can't stand flat screen monitors/TV's/laptops. All of them have this same effect, when compared to the bright, clear, viewable-from-any-direction CRT's. I don't care much for saving a few inches in depth, so I try to use CRT's whenever I can, because unless you're sitting directly in front and center of a flat screen anything, it's very difficult to read.

    1. Re:Flat screens! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Wow, did you base that all on the flat monitors you saw in 1989?

  2. oh, it's "gaze" tracking by erg5hp · · Score: 2, Funny

    thought they were picking on Clay and the boys . . .

  3. Gaze-Tracking Software by Reason58 · · Score: 4, Funny

    This gaze-tracking software will hurt the US military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy.

  4. It's an automatic "Boss" key!! by thewils · · Score: 5, Funny

    I could have used this when I was playing Prince of Persia on one of my previous contracts!!!

    --
    Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
  5. Re:Ok? by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 5, Funny

    typing and listening to music, you head is swinging back and forth to the beat

    Exactly! This is gonna be a big problem for Stevie Wonder - oh wait...

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  6. Loony Bin by JobyOne · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now things really will wiggle around when I'm not looking right at them.

    How am I supposed to tell the difference between PrivateEye and gremlins?

    --
    Porquoi?
  7. Re:or you can just add a privacy screen by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2, Funny

    Do they include a free cone of silence as well?

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  8. Re:Ok? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Hey, could you help me find the bug in my code?"

    "Ummmm....it looks like you just have gibberish."

  9. Re:more inexpensive solution by ScoLgo · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Resurrect the Cult of VI"

    I don't get it. Is this 'VI' you refer to some minor demon that is 0.009009 as evil as the beast?

    Oh, what's that? You're not 'Roman' Catholic?

    --
    "Michael, I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing - and it was everything that I thought it could be."
  10. CRAP!! Next DMCA intrusion by eatvegetables · · Score: 5, Funny
    Crap! Soon we'll get T.V.s that know that their being watched, who is watching, and exactly what viewers are looking at. ...Coming soon to a T.V. near you.

    Viewer: (thinking to himself) Oh great, a commercial. Time for a potty break. la, la, la (walks away from T.V.)

    T.V.: (in loud voice) Alert, Alert, Alert. Viewer, you have been away from the television for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. You now risk violating your television and cable provider's ULA and risk violating section 5, paragraph 10, subsection a of the 2010 DMCA redux and expansion act.

    Viewer: Coming, coming...just have to give a quick shake....O.K., I'm here. Whew, that was close.

    T.V.: Alert, Alert, Alert!!

    Viewer: Wha!, I'm here. I'm watching again for God's sake.

    T.V.: Viewer, you twice failed to take visual notice of the coke can product placement in this episode of Friends. You have now violated your television and cable provider's ULA and thus also violated the aforementioned DCMA act. Please place your hands on your head and wait for the authorities to arrive....a little higher please...there you go.

  11. Uh-oh by brusk · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sunglasses will be considered a DMCA violation.

    --
    .sig withheld by request
  12. Re:Awesome! by ArsenneLupin · · Score: 2, Funny

    especially for looking at porn in your cubicle at work.

    Careful there. What if your boss notices that only the guys in the porn flicks stay in focus, while the chicks are blurred...