What about a privacy film screen protector?

Hello,

As the Librem 5, and Librem laptops are designed to be privacy focused. And as they can be used for business, I wonder if you can propose a partnership with film screen suppliers to make some privacy film screen protector like the ones we can see on Lenovo Thinkpads ?

Do you think it is a good idea ?

Thank you

3 Likes

Hi @prog-amateur,

We use privacy filters both on our Thinkpads and iPhones at work and I must admit we are quite happy with it. We can read our (not that much but still a bit) confidential mail in the subway without worrying too much about indelicate eyes laying on our screens.

These are a convenient and easy privacy enhancement. A partnership with Purism would be great!

1 Like

Do CCTVs fit into the “eyes” category? :smiley:

The idea is not bad, though having them on all the time is overkill, some detachable ones could work better.

CCTV definitely count as indelicate eyes!

Our phones have sticky semi-permanent privacy screens and our laptops have detachable ones. Permanent ones on laptops would be a burden.

1 Like

This might be overkill but I came across this video recently and thought it was actually a pretty neat security feature: https://youtu.be/7e-HMjikwsY (though probably better used on laptops than a mobile device.)

After a little bit of digging I’m pretty sure this is using a 3-polarized filter setup. A polarized film is added to the laptop at an angle perpendicular to the polarized film already installed on the laptop (I believe most monitors use a 45 degree polarized film.) Then another 45 degree polarized film is applied to a set of glasses to allow visibility.

There are other videos on youtube where someone will just remove the original polarized film from a monitor and use it on their glasses to achieve a similar effect: https://youtu.be/zL_HAmWQTgA but for me, having a bright white display is much less discrete than the all black shown with the 3 film method (not to mention permanently ruining the monitor :-p)

Of course there are some downsides with brightness being lower, but the trade off is total discretion against prying eyes…

Let us know if anyone decides to give this a go!

Doh! New users can only post 2 links in a post :frowning:

But you can read more about the mechanics on how this works here: http://www.alienryderflex.com/polarizer/

Disclaimer - Haven’t tried this myself but looks pretty nifty!

i have my doubts about the usefullness of such foils. a clever spy would just sit behind you (for example in a train a row behind and look through the seats) and see exactly what you see. nice solution with the glasses but still useless as the spy can wear some too… so just dont read or type (one can even read what you type) confidetial stuff in public.

3 Likes

Hi @mdt,

I mostly agree with you: if something truly needs to be confidential, do not type or read it in public. This is also why I said:

Still, I believe such filters are good for privacy not secrecy. They are not good for hiding what you are doing. One can easily recognise a webpage layout, or see that you are watching a movie. They are acting a bit like “darkening blurring” filters. The farther to the side you go, the darker and blurrier it gets.

Working in open spaces, or “on premise” at clients’ office, I enjoy being able to type in stuff I am mostly the only one able to read because I can’t work efficiently when I feel monitored. I’d say those filter are more related to comfort than to protection from a threat.

5 Likes

https://shop.puri.sm/shop/privacy-screen-for-librem-14
https://shop.puri.sm/shop/privacy-screen-for-librem-15
(refurbished 13s have the screen as an option)

1 Like

No buy here. I just set the resolution so high, that you have to use a hand lense to read the strings on my screen. And no if its private i just do not look it up in public.

Public is public…