How well do those privacy screen protectors work?

stephenb16 weeks ago

I was looking though a magazine I picked up at CES, and saw an ad for 3M privacy screen protectors for tablets, smartphones and laptops. I missed the booth where they had them, so I didn't get a chance to see them in person. Maybe I'm a little paranoid about it, but I've always been uncomfortable using my laptop in public. Even when I have nothing to hide, I still feel uncomfortable knowing that someone could be watching my display. It may be weird, but that's just me I suppose. Plus there are times when I am actually entering financial data that I wouldn't want seen. In any case, the 3M screens attach like most screen protectors, and block the display from being viewed except from pretty much straight on. Does anyone know how well they work, and how durable they are. I think that they are relatively costly, and don't want get it if I have to replace it all the time should they scratch really easily.

Tags: 3M, privacy, screen protector

Topic: Hardware

Answer this Question

Login or register to post answers
Permalink

Answers

2 total

becker 16 weeks ago

There is something similar that I've seen for license plates. The cover basically has vertical "lines" that distort the image when viewed from the side, the idea being that "red light" cameras would have not be able to photograph the plate. Whether it worked for its stated purpose, I don't know, but without a doubt it blocked my view of the object behind the cover when viewed from any significant angle. The image remain clear from straight on, with some vertical stripes "ghosted" through the cover. Obviously this is different from the 3M screen covers, but it is the same basic idea, so I would expect the 3M cover to work quite well at stopping "peekers". I can't speak to durability, but judging from the age of some of the 3M post-it notes around my desk, I would expect it to outlast cockroaches and be Chuck Norris tough.

Share this answer
Permalink

jimlynch 16 weeks ago

I haven't used one, but I like the idea. I tried finding some reviews for you, but there don't seem to be a lot out there. I suggest checking Amazon.com for the privacy screen that interests you, then reading whatever user reviews are available.

I can see how it would be irritating to have somebody peeking at your screen, especially if you were on a bus or plane. It would be nice if people were more courteous and didn't do that. Then again, some people might not have seen your device. So some of it might just be curiosity about your "cool device" versus being a blatant attempt to see your data.

Of course you could always just turn around and say "do you mind?!" and then see what they do. ;)

Share this answer
Permalink

Answer this Question

Ask a question

Smartphones with quad-core chips and 4G LTE coming soon

Quad-core processors have not yet been combined with 4G LTE in smartphones, but that could change soon.

GAO: US gov't IT reform slower than claimed

The efforts of U.S. President Barack Obama's administration to streamline and improve the government's IT systems aren't proceeding as quickly as officials have suggested, a federal auditor said Thursday.

Can cheap ARM servers do real work?

ARM servers are inexpensive and use less power than Intel chip-based servers. Do they belong in the data center?

Sony pulls out of LCD JV with Sharp, gets US$126 million investment back

Sony said Thursday it will pull out of its over three-year LCD TV panel joint venture with Sharp, part of Sony's ongoing attempts to reform its foundering TV business.

Lenovo's tablet shipments grow in China with low-priced products

PC maker Lenovo has used a basement price strategy in China to become the country's second largest tablet vendor, coming ahead of rivals offering Android-based products, according to research firm IDC.

Windows 8 puts end to endless reboots

Microsoft yesterday promised that a feature it's added to Windows 8 will put a stop to endless reboots.

The HP Way: Shareholders get dividends, employees get pink slips

Hewlett-Packard is expected on Wednesday to announce the layoff of up to 30,000 workers, even as it continues to pay out regular dividends on 2 billion shares of common stock.

Windows 8 touchscreen devices to be priced higher, Dell says

Touchscreen laptops and tablets with the upcoming Windows 8 OS will be priced higher than their non-touchscreen counterparts, Dell's CEO said on Tuesday.

Updated SDK from Soti allows businesses to remotely control Apple mobile devices

Businesses can now remotely control enterprise mobile applications developed for Apple's mobile platform with the latest version of Soti's MobiControl Software Developer Kit for iOS, announced Tuesday.

Via announces $49 PC with Android OS

The price bar for PCs keeps dropping, with chip maker Via on Tuesday announcing a US$49 APC computer with a customized version of Google's Android operating system.

White Papers & Webcasts

White Paper

IDC Vendor Spotlight

Your company needs backup and recovery that supports a tiered-recovery model. This IDC Vendor Spotlight examines the modern forces driving the advancements in today's data protection technologies, and a complete backup and recovery solution that works across physical, virtual and cloud environments.

White Paper

vRanger Helps Cut Replication Time by Almost 70%

There's a reason why more than 38,000 customers trust vRanger to protect their critical virtual data! In this Quest Software case study, see how vRanger helped Cornerstone Bancshares, Inc. cut replication time from days to minutes - and how this translated to real time and money savings.

White Paper

ESG: Product Brief: Quest vRanger 5.3 brings enterprise-class VMware protection to SMB's

Free paper: how virtualization impacts SMBs, and strategies for enterprise-class VMware protection

White Paper

Forrester Report: The ROI of Cloud Apps

Cloud apps continue to gain momentum in the enterprise as buyers are attracted to fast deployment speeds, low upfront costs, and ongoing flexibility to scale up or down as needs change. This report analyzes the five-year ROI for cloud apps across CRM, ERP, collaboration, and IT service management.

White Paper

The Cloud: Reinventing Enterprise Collaboration

Collaboration and content sharing are not, of course, new concepts. But cloud computing has changed the nature of collaboration, content sharing, document storage and project management to enable more efficient, faster-acting and cost-effective enterprises. According to a new study by IDG Research, the vast majority of knowledge workers (86%) placed a very high level of importance on collaborating with internal coworkers and external stakeholders, and having access to the most up-to-date corporate information. Read how organizations are realizing massive productivity gains by transitioning their content management solutions to cloud-based models.

See more White Papers | Webcasts