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Making a Privacy Monitor From an Old LCD

Posted by samzenpus on from the wandering-eyes dept.

ryzvonusef writes "Instructables Member 'Dimovi' utilized a spare LCD monitor and converted it into a 'privacy' monitor. He took apart the monitor's plastic frame, cutting out the polarized film with a utility knife and removed the film adhesive from the glass panel before reassembling the monitor, which now shines a bright white regardless of what is actually being displayed on the screen. He then removed the lenses from a pair of theater 3D glasses, and replaced it with the polarized film he had just removed from the monitor. Now, he is the only one who can see what he is doing on his computer."

5 of 185 comments (clear)

  1. Great hack. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Very interesting hack. It would be perfect for laptops that are used while travelling (watching pr0n during your flight?).
    I wonder how easy or difficult it would be to hack a notebook screen.

    lol, captcha: decency

    1. Re:Great hack. by Matheus · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Not that hard... I've done it several times (the dis-assembly/re-assembly part... not the screen hack)

      It helps significantly if you have the assembly manual but not required.

    2. Re:Great hack. by ebolaZaireRules · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Umm... have you actually disassembled an Laptops LCD screen?
      after taking the actual display out of the case, don't be fooled by thinking that thin == simple.
      There are about 7 separate paged layers sandwiched into metal bezel... not actually hard to deal with, but if you dislodge one, you can destroy your screen (all the electronic connections are from 1 edge of the screen - the top, when I did it).
      Putting it back together was a bit difficult... the backlight shines up through the screen, and it took me a dozen tries to get it to the point where the screen was usable.

      It was a very fiddly job overall.... especially when in the end it was so easy to resolder the CCL that was attached to the bezel (I didn't need to dissassemble the display at all)...

      Mind you, the laptop in question is the better part of 10 years old, so you have an easier time of it.

      good luck...

      --
      The Bible: Historically verifiable fact from an observers point of view
  2. Re:Sunglasses by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Wearing polarised sunglasses indoors is kind of obvious. For someone who works with sensitive information, yet is in a publicly accessible area, this is a genuinely great idea.

    Hell, I might even suggest this for my own workstation (back to the door, frequently working on sensitive data). I wear glasses anyway; It wouldn't be difficult to fit the film to the lenses I already require.

    --
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  3. Useful, but not very private by Maximum+Prophet · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I suggested something similar to improve the contrast in the sonar room on submarines, without tripping up the people who were doing other things. Polarize the displays up and down, and the room lights side to side. People wearing polarized glasses could see the displays well, but the glare from the room lights would be diminished.

    I think the first description of such a system was in a golden age science fiction story. Car head lights were polarized diagonally. You'd wear glasses that allowed your light to be bright, but oncoming ca's headlights would be reduced. Of course unsuspecting pedestrians would be blinded.

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