PRIVACY FILTER FITS OVER SCREEN, LETS ONLY YOU SEE

So there you are using your laptop computer at some public venue. You may be traveling on a jet, sitting at a local coffee shop hotspot, at the library doing research, on a bus, wherever. As you're doing whatever it is that you do at your computer, you suddenly get the feeling that your personal space is somehow being invaded. You look up and you spot him. And although he probably quickly turned his gaze away, you realize that for some time now, the guy sitting next to you has been reading what's on your screen. I've had it happen to me and it's a feeling that's hard to describe. I rate it somewhere between a mild annoyance and a personal violation, specifically depending on what I had been viewing at that particular moment in time.

Let's face it. People are nosey. They'll read your newspaper over your shoulder if given the chance, listen in to your side of a cell phone conversation and pry into whatever else you leave exposed. Reading my newspaper isn't so bad as that's information available to everyone.
Eavesdropping to my half of a cell phone conversation is really tantamount to any conversation I may have with someone in public which really isn't that intrusive. I can just decide to keep my voice down. But reading what's being displayed on my computer is where I have to draw the privacy intrusion line. At any given moment, my screen could be showing sensitive data about my business, personal finances, passwords, email, and dozens of other private items of which I have no desire to share with some nearby stranger. Fortunately for me and others that need to use their computers in a public place, 3M has come up with a novel solution called the Privacy Filter.

The Privacy Filter is a sheet of transparent film that can be easily attached over any notebook computer's screen. It's a removable, thin, rigid-yet-flexible polymer that also protects the computer's screen from scratches and marks. The idea is a fairly simple one in that the film acts as a kind of mini-blind like the kind you see being used over ordinary windows. But instead of physical slats, the Privacy Filter uses a patented microlouver technology that yields the same effect via extremely tiny ridges that only allow light to pass through to someone who is observing from a position that is directly in front of the screen. Someone trying to look from any other angle such as from the right or left side of the screen will only see blackness. In fact, it looks like the computer isn't even turned on unless you are looking at it straight on.

Typically when you use your computer, you're the one sitting directly in front of the screen so everything looks normal. In fact, the Privacy Filter takes it a bit further and enhances the image by using 3M's Vikuiti technology that improves screen color contrast and helps reduce headaches and eyestrain that comes from too much computer usage. The Privacy Filter is a clever, inexpensive solution to an annoying problem.

Check out the 3M website on how you measure your screen so you can order the proper size Privacy Filter for your particular computer. Depending in the size, the notebook privacy filters range from $40 to $60.

As Wi-Fi venues continue to pop up all over the country, you'll find yourself going online more frequently. These days when you go to a McDonald's to surf, it might not just be for a Filet-O-Fish sandwich. So while you're online and munching at one of their big public tables, your Privacy Filter-equipped notebook may be just the needed condiment to keep your meal a happy one.

www.3m.com