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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."

21 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 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
    7. 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.
  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/
  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.

  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.
  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: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.

  11. 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.
  12. 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
  13. 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.