原文：https://uploadvr.com/eye-tracking-important-risky/
by IAN HAMILTON ‧ JANUARY 17TH, 2018
At CES last week one of my first demos was with Tobii and its eye-tracking
technology. I left the demo convinced that once you’ve tried a VR headset
with eye-tracking included you’ll never want to wear one without it again.
在上周的消費電子展上,我首先嘗試了Tobii以及它的眼動追蹤科技。相信我,一旦你嘗試過
配備眼動追蹤技術的VR頭盔,你就再也不會想戴一般的VR了。
Google, Facebook and Apple all purchased eye-tracking companies over the last
few years because these tech giants know what benefits are possible with the
technology. If you know where a person is pointing their eyes at any given
moment you can do things with software interaction and optimization that were
never possible before. For example, eye-tracking could allow next generation
headsets to dramatically upgrade resolution without adding a ton to rendering
cost. That’s by way of foveated rendering — where the greatest detail is
only drawn directly in front of your eyes. Manufacturers could even use
eye-tracking to measure the distance between your pupils, which could help
people maximize the 3D effect seen inside a VR headset just by getting it set
up right.
諸如Google、Facebook和Apple都深知眼動追蹤技術的潛力,因此這些科技大廠都在過去幾
年收購了掌握眼動追蹤技術的公司。只要知道人們的視線所在,就有可能用軟體把互動優化
到過去難以想象的地步。舉例來說,藉由中心渲染技術-中心渲染是指只在視線中心顯示畫
面細節以節省系統資源的技術-眼動追蹤有可能使得下一代的VR頭盔不需要花太多成本就
能顯著的提高顯示畫質。製造商也可能利用眼動追蹤技術來測量兩眼的瞳距,進而改善現有
VR頭盔的3D顯示效果。
But more important to developers, eye-tracking completely changes the way
people interact with a virtual world. Tobii sells a modified HTC Vive with
its eye-tracking tech installed and, in a series of demos, I was given the
freedom to flip eye-tracking on or off at any time. Not once did I prefer
eye-tracking off and it so enhanced the experience of interacting with a
virtual world I started disliking the HTC Vive without the feature turned on.
Below is a look at the demos I tried, each of which was either more immersive
or easier to accomplish than if I had been using a headset without
eye-tracking.
但對於廠商來說，更重要的是眼動追蹤技術徹底改變了人們與虛擬世界的互動方式。Tobii
販售經過眼動追蹤技術改良的HTC Vive。在一系列的Demo中,眼動追蹤大大增強了與虛擬現
實的互動體驗,以至於我完全不想關掉眼動追蹤模式.下面是一些我嘗試過的Demo,每一個
Demo使用眼動追蹤與否，使用體驗都天差地遠。
I was so impressed by these demos and how they enhanced the experience it
makes a lot of sense for innovative developers to think about getting a VR
headset with eye-tracking so they can start planning now how to take
advantage of the technology.
無論是這些Demos，或是它們對於VR體驗的改善都使我印象深刻。對於開發者來說,將
眼動追蹤技術加進他們的VR頭盔中十分必要,如此他們在這個科技產業中取得優勢。
What About The Risk?
I found the benefits of eye-tracking to be so profound that it would be hard
for me to imagine anyone turning the feature off once headsets come with the
technology embedded. That means when Google, Facebook or Microsoft start
shipping headsets with the technology, they could be pretty intrusive in how
they choose to use it.
一旦眼動追蹤技術實用化,我很難想象有人會不去使用它。眼動追蹤的優勢非常明顯,這意味
著包括Google, Facebook以及微軟都開始在它們的頭盔中應用該技術,但它們應用的方式
可能會非常容易侵犯隱私。
The same feedback loop causing people to prune their friend lists and
newsfeeds so they only interact with people and ideas with which they agree
could have a far more dramatic effect with eye-tracking. Imagine a
spreadsheet stored somewhere that saves how long your eyes stay focused on
everything from colors to objects and individuals. It would be possible to
build a highly individualized and deeply telling list of everything you like
and dislike — including lots of things you may not want shared. And because
eye-tracking is so beneficial to the overall experience of wearing a VR
headset, tech companies interested in using this data might have a lot of
freedom in doing so. In other words — it might be incredibly hard to say no.
由於社群網絡的反饋循環機制,人們開始刪減他們的好友名單及推放新聞,如此人們就可以
只和他們所認同的人或話題,依靠眼動追蹤技術的強大功能進行互動—想象一下, 眼動追
蹤就像一張表格,從顏色.物件到目標個人,巨細靡遺的記錄你眼球的每一個動作。即使你並
不想讓人知道這些,但你所有喜歡跟討厭的東西都可能被做成一份專屬的清單。由於眼動追
蹤技術在VR產業可能帶來的龐大利益,對眼動追蹤有興趣的大廠很難對這些眼動追蹤資料
說不。
Tobii actually said it is prepared for this situation and includes a separate
agreement with manufacturers covering the use of gaze data. Manufacturers are
required to seek the approval of users before storing their gaze data,
according to the eye-tracking company.
Tobii表示他們對於這個狀況早有準備。對於要使用這些眼動追蹤資料的製造商,他們特別
準備了獨立的同意書。如果製造商要使用這些眼動追蹤資料,他們必須獲得使用者的同意。
“Privacy is a very important aspect of any new technology which is why we
require both the software and hardware companies that use our technology to
get the explicit (and stand-alone) approval of users if they plan to store or
analyze gaze data,” Tobii said in a prepared statement. “It’s also
important to know that there are a variety of ways that this data can be used
to help improve user experiences (better UIs, automatic settings, etc.), for
those users who specifically consent for that information to be used.”
對於任何新科技,隱私都是至關重要的。這也是為什麼我們要求使用我們科技的軟銀體公司
要使用眼動追蹤資料時,必須求得使用者的同意,且這份同意書必須明確且獨立。Tobii做出
聲明: 知道這些資料可以在很多方面改善使用者體驗(包括更好的使用者界面,自動設定等
),對於那些同意眼動追蹤資料被使用的用戶來說很重要。
But when nobody reads the terms and conditions, is that going to be a strong
enough step to protect people when all VR headsets include this feature?
但如果大家都不仔細看同意書及條款,當所有VR頭盔都有眼動追蹤功能的時候,對用戶來
說,同意書足夠保護他們的隱私嗎?
A number of companies have already been making heat maps based on aggregate
and anonymized gaze data produced by recording where everyone’s head is
pointed during a VR experience. Here’s an example of such a heat map
overlaid on top of a 360-degree video:
很多公司已經根據VR的用戶視線,製作出了”熱圖”。熱圖可以顯示使用者視線在不同位置
的頻率。下面是一個覆蓋在360度影片上的熱圖例子:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyy-afeaNZQ
Such a heat map is incredibly useful to creators in allowing them to dissect
what works and what doesn’t in their projects. And for ad-driven businesses
like Facebook and Google, the more they know about you the more effective ad
targeting they can provide their customers. With the jump to eye-tracking,
though, is the information too detailed? The eye data is so personal a
comparable analogy might be your PC manufacturer installing a keylogger or
mouse movement tracker to record everything you do on your PC. Would you want
anyone — even your family — having access to that kind of unfiltered level
of information about you?
熱圖對於製造商來說是可以讓他們知道研究成果是否有效的工具。而對於像Facebook或
Google這樣的廣告商來說,他們知道的越多,對於目標客群的廣告定位就越精準。然而,當科
技一下進步到眼動追蹤,所提供的資訊會不會太詳細了呢? 眼動追蹤資料是非常個人的東
西。就好像軟體製造商在你的電腦裝鍵盤側錄或滑鼠追蹤一樣,你會想要任何人-即使是你
的家人-看到這些未經過濾的個人資料嗎?