Software can spy on what you type in video calls by tracking your arms

By Chris Stokel-Walker

It is possible to find out what someone is typing during a video chat

Luis Alvarez / Getty

Someone typing during a video call may be giving away more than they think. A computer model can determine the words the person is typing by tracking the movement of their shoulders and arms in the video stream.

"There are significant shoulder movements that are often not easily noticeable when typing," says Murtuza Jadliwala of the University of Texas at San Antonio. "We thought if we can model them scientifically, we should be able to infer different keystrokes …