Filter out prying eyes from terminal

Fed up with colleagues peering over your shoulder when you are at the computer? Or with the person next to you at the cyber cafe for stealing glances at your screen?

Fed up with colleagues peering over your shoulder when you are at the computer? Or with the person next to you at the cyber café for stealing glances at your screen?

HT Image

There’s a way, at long last, to defeat those inquisitive few. Computer accessories firms have come out with privacy filters which, when attached to computer screens, limits view of the terminal to only the person sitting directly in front of it. What meets the eye from an angle or from a distance of more than two feet away is a blank or grey screen.

“The trend of creating open offices makes it difficult to keep personal data or other confidential information private from colleagues or visitors. But with a privacy filter fitted on the monitor of a computer, only the person sitting in front of the screen can view the data on the screen,” said a spokesperson of 3M, which has manufacturing facilities in Bangalore.

Some other companies are also manufacturing the filters that use micro-louvre technology to restrict viewing a screen from a distance or from angles. These filters, which come in different shapes, are lightweight and can be fitted on laptops and notebooks as well.

Digital Solutions Inc, a firm that has started manufacturing privacy filters since last month, says its filters reduce glare and have anti-radiation properties.

3M claims its filters offer anti-static protection. The Centre is working on a Data Protection Act on the lines of the one existing in UK. “Once this comes into effect, it would be mandatory for companies to adopt technological and organisational measures against unauthorised viewing and processing of personal data at workplaces. Privacy filters offer the most cost-effective solution,” said Avina-sh Sethi of Digital Solutions.

Some of the filters also enhance screen images and text. “But there’s no distortion at all,” said the 3M spokesman. Most of these privacy filters restrict viewing of what appears on a computer screen to an area of about 2 ft by 1 ft or 1 ft 2 in.

“That way, even a person who’s passing by or standing behind a user cannot see what’s on the screen. It’s the same with people trying to steal a sideways glance,” said Sethi.

Privacy filters, he added, are especially recommended for laptops that have LCD screens. “The filter protects the screen from scratches. Since laptops are also used at public places, a filter offer vital privacy protection,” he said.

The sole factor that goes against the filters is, however, the price: it ranges from Rs 5,000 to Rs 9,000. “Privacy filters are priced too high in India. No one would like to invest a few thousand rupees for such a filter, no matter what its advantages are,” said Devendra Mehta of the Computer Association of Eastern India.

Sethi assures this is a temporary phenomenon. “Once we start getting orders, prices will come down,” he said.