Privacy from Microsoft.
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Having people peeking at your phone above your shoulder is annoying, but it can also be quite dangerous if you're looking at sensitive information. To offer users some privacy, Microsoft patented a system that encodes documents so only you can see them. Think of it as one of those phone screen protectors but better.
Basically, it makes the text illegible aside from the part you're looking at directly, as noted by PC Gamer.
"The computing system includes a processor executing a program using portions of memory to receive an initial document and an encoded document, determine a gaze location of a user using a camera, generate a mask based on the determined gaze location, and display an alpha-blended document by alpha- blending the initial document and the encoded document using the mask."
Unfortunately, the patent doesn't explain exactly how Microsoft managed to determine your gaze area and make the rest blurred, but it says some eye-tracking technology can be used. Then, the alpha-blending mask gradually increases in opacity outside of that area and the system ensures that your clear vision moves together with the eyes.
This tech is similar to what AMD offers in its Privacy View and might even overpower it one day.
Unfortunately, Microsoft is not always as devoted to privacy: in May, it presented Recall, a "photographic memory" for Windows that takes screenshots of everything you do.
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