Sign stated immediately that it’s updating its Home windows app to stop the system from capturing screenshots, thereby defending the content material that’s on show.
The corporate stated that this new “display screen safety” setting is enabled by default on Home windows 11. Sign stated that this new characteristic is designed to guard customers’ privateness from Microsoft’s Recall characteristic, which was introduced final 12 months. Recall captures screenshots of the system repeatedly to recollect your entire actions, so you may scroll again in time to recollect what you have been taking a look at.
Whereas the corporate paused the rollout of the characteristic final 12 months after backlash, Microsoft began testing it once more in April by way of the Home windows Preview Channel. Microsoft has made the characteristic opt-in and has additionally added a approach to pause it anytime. Sign stated that regardless of these modifications, the characteristic nonetheless captures content material that could be delicate.
Sign stated that if you end up making an attempt to take a screenshot with the brand new display screen safety setting enabled, you’ll simply get a clean display screen.
The corporate additionally warned that when the setting is enabled, some features, equivalent to display screen readers, won’t work as meant. You possibly can flip off the setting by way of Sign Settings > Privateness > Display safety.
The app will present you a warning if you end up making an attempt to disable this feature, and you’ll have to click on on Verify to finish the motion. That is to stop you from by accident turning the characteristic off whereas making an attempt to regulate different settings.
“We hope that the AI groups constructing techniques like Recall will assume by way of these implications extra rigorously sooner or later. Apps like Sign shouldn’t need to implement a “one bizarre trick” as a way to preserve the privateness and integrity of their providers with out correct developer instruments,” Sign stated in a weblog publish.