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Making a Privacy Monitor From an Old LCD

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."

38 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 tverbeek · · Score: 5, Funny

      A notebook screen should be fundamentally the same.

      As for the idea of watching porn during an airplane flight... the image on the screen is only the beginning of why doing that is frowned upon.

      --
      http://alternatives.rzero.com/
    2. Re:Great hack. by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Funny

      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.

      But wouldn't anyone with a pair of polarizing sunglasses be able to see your screen?

      I don't know enough about such things to know. I lent out my copy of Newton's Optics, and I keep my polarized sunglasses in a secret compartment I cut into the Enumeration of Lines of the Third Order.

      Anyway, leave me alone. I'm trying to kill Al Ghul and bang Talia without having to squat in the Lazarus Pit.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    3. Re:Great hack. by satuon · · Score: 3, Funny

      Earphones have already solved the audio side of the problem.

    4. 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.

    5. Re:Great hack. by pulski · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'd be willing to bet that the minute someone on an airplane sees you staring at an all white screen for any period of time there will be an Air Marshal tapping you on the shoulder.

    6. Re:Great hack. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Which laws do apply during flight depends...on many things, but the general rule is that while in flight the laws of the country of registration of the plane apply. For commercial flight not registered in the same country as the commercial operator of the flight, the operator country's laws do apply. This matters for what happens between the passengers inside the plane.

      The above statement is, obviously, overly simplified, since many things can complicate matters. For example the flight could be leased in a country to an operator dry renting or wet renting it to people/operators in other countries, the flight could be overflying some country which refuses to sign certain international treaties(or such a country could be the one of the mentioned leasers, owners, operators, renters etc.), also being in sovereign country's air or international waters does make a difference.

      It's a whole convoluted matter. most of the time more than one country laws do apply, sometimes for example the operator country laws apply regarding civil matter, but both the operator's and overflown country laws apply regarding penal matte(Except the USA most countries have just these two categories, no "federal" matter). There have been situations where even the country of the single passengers or passenger's corporate countries have been important(it has been tried to avoid country laws by signing contracts on board of planes operated by companies in fiscal heaven countries. Usually this kind of trick will not work)

    7. 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
    8. Re:Great hack. by Khyber · · Score: 5, Funny

      At which point you go "National Security. If you had the security clearance, you'd have the glasses to see past the security layer. Good day, sir."

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    9. Re:Great hack. by Jeng · · Score: 2

      Now you can find lots of online videos of people dis-assembling smartphones and laptops.

      Youtube, it's for more than just stupid kitten videos now.

      --
      Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
    10. Re:Great hack. by Runaway1956 · · Score: 2

      Pal, I do maintenance. Big stuff, small stuff, and everything in between. Electronics, hydraulics, electrical, heating, cooling, servo motors - you name it. If we take something apart, and put it back together, and we DO NOT HAVE any left over parts, we know that we've screwed up.

      Once in awhile, we have to open the patient back up, to put one or more of those spare parts where it belongs, but that doesn't happen very often.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    11. Re:Great hack. by 117 · · Score: 2

      HP are pretty good with this kind of information now, too (and not just for laptops). There's a wealth of information and videos in their 'Customer Self Repair' section online here: http://h20464.www2.hp.com/index.html

    12. Re:Great hack. by durrr · · Score: 2

      Before you do something stupid, know that there's polarizing filters for DSLR cameras, so not only would you risk being seen by people with polarizing glasses, you'd risk being photographed watching midget porn in public too. And in the picture it would look like you're doing it in a totally shameless manner too, not through invisible glasses.

    13. Re:Great hack. by mikael · · Score: 2

      You could get the maintenance manual for Sony Vaio laptops. So far, I've replaced the screen, the keyboard, the folding screen LCD-switch-latch circuit board, the hard disk drive (upgrades), memory (upgrade), CPU cooling fan assembly.

      Just about every computer repair shop wouldn't go as far as trying to replace a screen.

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    14. Re:Great hack. by wagnerrp · · Score: 2

      In theory, yes. All he's done is removed the static polarizing filter from the display, and placed it in his glasses. As such, he needs to be precisely aligned to get proper color reproduction, Anyone else similarly aligned can see exactly what he sees. Alternatively, for a good time, take LSD and spin the monitor.

  2. the down side by tverbeek · · Score: 5, Funny

    Cool and clever hack. But it assumes that what you're displaying on the screen is more embarrassing than being seen wearing 3D glasses. An easier solution would be to just never let anyone into your lair.

    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
    1. Re:the down side by DC2088 · · Score: 2, Funny

      The Doctor wore 3D glasses and then saved the universe. There's nothing to discuss here.

    2. Re:the down side by JustOK · · Score: 2

      yah, but a what cost? They weren't Rose coloured-glasses

      --
      rewriting history since 2109
    3. Re:the down side by tverbeek · · Score: 2

      Because polarization involves filtering out all of the light except the waves of a certain angle, they will inevitably look darker than Plain Old Glasses.

      --
      http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  3. Only one who can see the screen? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sure, unless anyone else is wearing polarized sunglasses in the vicinity.

    1. Re:Only one who can see the screen? by kiehlster · · Score: 2

      And to top it all off, don't all federal agents wear inconspicuous polarized sunglasses anyway? It's the MIBs, uh, here come the MIBs.

  4. Done Before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Immediately thought of This.

  5. 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.

    --
    Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
  6. but but by sgt+scrub · · Score: 5, Funny

    When you don't want anyone seeing what is on the screen aren't you usually naked? Glasses aren't going to hide much, IMHO.

    --
    Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
    1. Re:but but by __aajfby9338 · · Score: 2

      So there I was, sitting at my computer and watching porn. Naked, of course. All of a sudden, my boss walked into my cubicle!

      Boss: What are you doing?

      Me: Working on a spreadsheet.

      Boss: Great! Keep up the good work.

      Whew! Saved by the privacy monitor!

  7. Re:How long... by tangelogee · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sony kind of came out with that...the Playstation Display allows for two people to play fullscreen simultaneously.

  8. 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.

    --
    All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
    1. Re:Useful, but not very private by SoupGuru · · Score: 4, Informative

      It wasn't a scifi story. Edwin Land, Mr. Polaroid himself, did a lot of research in the area and proposed a combination of headlights and windshields. I remember reading a pretty interesting article in New Scientist about it. Here's the teaser before the "subscribe to read the full article" http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19426061.800-histories-still-dazzled-after-all-these-years.html

      --
      What doesn't kill you only delays the inevitable
  9. Why not just buy a 3M privacy filter? by WillAdams · · Score: 3, Informative

    Recycling is cool and all, but it's not like this is a new / unique / unanticipated capability:

    http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/SDP/Privacy_Filters/

    William

    --
    Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
  10. Re:couldnt this be done in software ? by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 2

    surely a graphics programmer could coax an Nvidia/Ati card to give the same effect ?

    It's been done. See an example here

    Yes, it is what you're expecting.

    --
    Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
  11. Re:couldnt this be done in software ? by Aladrin · · Score: 2

    With a 3d monitor, it could be interesting to try. For 1 'eye', output the normal image. For the other, output exactly the opposite image. For normal vision, it would look like a solid image, but wearing 1 half of the 3D Glasses should give you the normal image.

    I think I'll try this later, with the standard 3D image viewer app.

    --
    "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
  12. Re:Sunglasses by Luckyo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Iirc polarizing sun glasses always have horizontal polarization (or was it vertical, can't remember, it's basically aimed at removing the rays reflected off water surface).

    You can require exact opposite polarization here, meaning that sunglasses wouldn't work.

  13. Re:Sunglasses by trout007 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I did a quick test at my desk with my polarized sunglasses and two different monitors. Both blocked the light when I tilted my head 45 degrees to the right and it was at full brightness 45 degrees to the left. The image only was completely blocked in a very narrow range.

    --
    I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
  14. Not impressed. by ZeroExistenZ · · Score: 3, Funny

    Pffftrrrt. Wake me up when they come up with a polarized PROJECTED image with seperate frequencies for each viewer. That would be kindof impressive.

    --
    I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
  15. Re:Sunglasses by TheLink · · Score: 2

    Yes, it is utterly irresponsible to expose unprepared and untrained people to the unspeakable horrors of O***le, M**QL or S** Server...

    Speak not their names lightly.

    --
  16. Re:Sunglasses by marcosdumay · · Score: 4, Informative

    Sunglasses have horizontal polarization. It's aimed at preserving the light reflected from horizontal surfaces, while filtering half of the light comming directly from the Sun.

  17. Er....? by argStyopa · · Score: 2

    Didn't we just spend the last 20 years designing laptop/lcd flatscreens so that they didn't have the damn single-point-of-viewing issue? I seem to recall the original, dim LCD screens being an enormous pain in the butt because if you moved your head about 3" to either side, you couldn't see anything.

    --
    -Styopa
  18. Re:Sunglasses by _0xd0ad · · Score: 2

    Sunlight is fully unpolarized, therefore it will not be hindered by polarization ... polarizing has no effect on brightness of unpolarized light (beyond the impact of filter's imperfect optical properties of course).

    You are wrong.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarizer#Malus.27_law_and_other_properties

    A beam of unpolarized light can be thought of as containing a uniform mixture of linear polarizations at all possible angles. Since the average value of cos^2 theta is 1/2, the transmission coefficient becomes I / Io = 1/2.