Future Google Chromebooks may detect when someone snoops at your laptop’s screen – Times of India

Google is working on a new feature for its Chromebook laptops that will determine if someone is looking at your laptop’s screen over your shoulder. According to a report by 9to5Google, future Chromebooks will come with a sensor called Human Presence Sensor. It will determine whether or not a human is visible to the Chromebook’s camera. Google has been working on this sensor for a while.
An upcoming flag for Chrome shows how Chromebooks will use Human Presence Sensor to enable snooping detection. “Enables snooping protection to notify you whenever there is a ‘snooper’ looking over your shoulder. Can be enabled and disabled from the Smart privacy section of your device settings” the report says.
In case the Chromebook’s camera detects a person, chromeOS can do a few things to protect your work from being snooped over. It may show you a simple eye icon in the corner of the screen to notify you that you are being watched or it may automatically dim the screen of your Chromebook. ChromeOS can also turn off the notifications temporarily when someone else is detected looking at your screen.
Whether these actions can be preset or can only be chosen after the Chromebook’s camera detects a person, it is yet not clear. Also, considering the fact that this feature is a hardware side upgrade, it is likely that it may not be a common feature for all Chromebook users.
Google is yet to officially announce the feature, but it is expected that Chromebooks with Human Presence Sensor may not launch until 2022 at the earliest.