With Windows 10, Microsoft chose to move their venerable operating system business to a software as a service platform. This has meant both continuous updates as well as feature upgrades and additions. In April, one of the biggest updates to date, the Creators Update will go public. In recent builds, a new feature called Dynamic Lock aims to provide a way for the system detect when the user is away and lock itself.
Using Windows Hello cameras, the OS is now capable of identifying the user’s face. This is being used for more applications but it can also unlock the PC this way. Dynamic Lock takes this to a new level with the camera detecting the user’s face. When the face/user gets up and leaves, Windows 10 will detect that and lock the PC. To unlock, the user simply gets back in their seat and lets the camera see their face to unlock.
The main details missing about the implementation is how active is the camera. For instance, the camera could just be constantly on or checking at some interval of say every 1-5 minutes. It might also be based off of user UI inactivity that triggers the camera to activate and try and find the user. Without these details, it’s hard to see what the implications for privacy or user friendliness will be like. Of course, I expect such a feature to completely opt-in unless Microsoft does another of their crazy blunders.
Android has/had this a while back.