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.
在上周的消费电子展上,我首先尝试了Tobii以及它的眼动追踪科技。相信我,一旦你尝试过
配备眼动追踪技术的VR头盔,你就再也不会想戴一般的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.
诸如Google、Facebook和Apple都深知眼动追踪技术的潜力,因此这些科技大厂都在过去几
年收购了掌握眼动追踪技术的公司。只要知道人们的视线所在,就有可能用软件把互动优化
到过去难以想象的地步。举例来说,借由中心渲染技术-中心渲染是指只在视线中心显示画
面细节以节省系统资源的技术-眼动追踪有可能使得下一代的VR头盔不需要花太多成本就
能显著的提高显示画质。制造商也可能利用眼动追踪技术来测量两眼的瞳距,进而改善现有
VR头盔的3D显示效果。
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.
但对于厂商来说，更重要的是眼动追踪技术彻底改变了人们与虚拟世界的互动方式。Tobii
贩售经过眼动追踪技术改良的HTC Vive。在一系列的Demo中,眼动追踪大大增强了与虚拟现
实的互动体验,以至于我完全不想关掉眼动追踪模式.下面是一些我尝试过的Demo,每一个
Demo使用眼动追踪与否，使用体验都天差地远。
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.
无论是这些Demos，或是它们对于VR体验的改善都使我印象深刻。对于开发者来说,将
眼动追踪技术加进他们的VR头盔中十分必要,如此他们在这个科技产业中取得优势。
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.
一旦眼动追踪技术实用化,我很难想象有人会不去使用它。眼动追踪的优势非常明显,这意味
著包括Google, Facebook以及微软都开始在它们的头盔中应用该技术,但它们应用的方式
可能会非常容易侵犯隐私。
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.
由于社群网络的反馈循环机制,人们开始删减他们的好友名单及推放新闻,如此人们就可以
只和他们所认同的人或话题,依靠眼动追踪技术的强大功能进行互动—想象一下, 眼动追
踪就像一张表格,从颜色.物件到目标个人,巨细靡遗的记录你眼球的每一个动作。即使你并
不想让人知道这些,但你所有喜欢跟讨厌的东西都可能被做成一份专属的清单。由于眼动追
踪技术在VR产业可能带来的庞大利益,对眼动追踪有兴趣的大厂很难对这些眼动追踪资料
说不。
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表示他们对于这个状况早有准备。对于要使用这些眼动追踪资料的制造商,他们特别
准备了独立的同意书。如果制造商要使用这些眼动追踪资料,他们必须获得使用者的同意。
“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.”
对于任何新科技,隐私都是至关重要的。这也是为什么我们要求使用我们科技的软银体公司
要使用眼动追踪资料时,必须求得使用者的同意,且这份同意书必须明确且独立。Tobii做出
声明: 知道这些资料可以在很多方面改善使用者体验(包括更好的使用者界面,自动设定等
),对于那些同意眼动追踪资料被使用的用户来说很重要。
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?
但如果大家都不仔细看同意书及条款,当所有VR头盔都有眼动追踪功能的时候,对用户来
说,同意书足够保护他们的隐私吗?
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:
很多公司已经根据VR的用户视线,制作出了”热图”。热图可以显示使用者视线在不同位置
的频率。下面是一个覆蓋在360度影片上的热图例子:
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?
热图对于制造商来说是可以让他们知道研究成果是否有效的工具。而对于像Facebook或
Google这样的广告商来说,他们知道的越多,对于目标客群的广告定位就越精准。然而,当科
技一下进步到眼动追踪,所提供的资讯会不会太详细了呢? 眼动追踪资料是非常个人的东
西。就好像软件制造商在你的电脑装键盘侧录或鼠标追踪一样,你会想要任何人-即使是你
的家人-看到这些未经过滤的个人资料吗?