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.'"

Comments

more inexpensive solution

[davek]

With regard to over-the-shoulder power, I bought by first CHIMP in 98. Can't work without it.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/accessories/2940/

Re:more inexpensive solution

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

With regard to over-the-shoulder power, I bought by first CHIMP in 98. Can't work without it.

I use a clear piece of plastic, like half of a CD case with the insert removed. Stick it on a shelf near the monitor and with the right angle it is just as good for detecting someone behind your back, but since it is not an obvious mirror, they won't know that you know they are there. I've freaked out a number of people with my 'psychic' ability to detect someone standing at the door to my office while looking the other way and with the music blasting on my headphones.

Re:Flat screens!

[Enleth]

Does this still bother you, even with today's LCDs? I'm currently sitting at the side of my desk, typing this on a laptop, and I can read the text just fine on either of the two Dell 1905FP LCDs at the center of my desk, with one about 40cm away at a 45deg angle and the other about 80cm away at a 70deg angle. Both are displaying 12pt black-on-white antialiased text (PDFs) at 90dpi.

Eye strain

[slummy]

What about eye strain from the constant blurring/clarification process?
I would think a person using this technology would have to train themselves not to try and focus on an area of the screen that would normally be in focus until the "gaze" sensor figures out what they're trying to look at.

Re:I smell venture capital PR

[hacksoncode]

It doesn't say specifically, but I'm guessing it makes use of the saccade effect. Your brain literally doesn't see changes in the visual field while your eyes are moving from one spot to another (this motion is called a saccade).

So, basically, the text is only "correct" in the exact spot you're looking at any instant... as soon as your eyes move to the next word, the gibberish that's there before the saccade is changed to the "correct" word for that new spot. And you don't notice.

Anyone that the camera is not tracking would just see random gibberish because the words they are looking at usually haven't been changed to be the "correct" ones for that spot at the instant they are looking at them.

It's a well known process... just never applied to the field of security before. Also, it would take a very high-speed, very high-resolution camera, so I doubt it's applicability to general purpose computers any time soon.

And, of course, if someone watching you has the same high-speed, high-resolution camera that you have, they could just record the whole video stream and perform an analysis on it... so it's not terribly good security either.

Re:Technology vs People Problems

[david_thornley]

Actually, if they're working on sensitive material, they should never work on an airplane or in a coffee shop. This has been known for a long time by people who work with sensitive material on paper. You don't get it out in a public area, and you don't talk about it in a public place. Nor do you rely on odd technological measures that might fail.

The other reasons make a good deal more sense, but I don't know that it's worth the price and inconvenience just to read porn in public or do your taxes.