Reading text from a distance
Why has everyone got NinjaCyborg vision?

If obfuscating the text is too difficult, a reasonable compromise would be a forced pose / emit along the lines of, "%N takes a closer look at (other character's) (item)"

At least that way people will have some sense that others are sticking their nose where it might not belong.

But I like being able to show people photos and documents without them leaving my hands. It's also very convenient to read things as a group, together.

Did you know you can read things and look at photos without holding them? If you have them in your hands, you're basically showing them off to whoever wants to see them. If you're receiving an item from someone, be quick on that 'fh.'

Also, if you're exchanging sensitive data without a cover page, that's just bad OpSec. 😛

While this is a game and isn't meant to be realism simulator, people adding keys from a note or flyer they glanced at in passing isn't believable in my book.

If it's sitting out someplace or on a table or bar, that'd be one thing but people generally don't have the ability to remember long sequences of information perfectly the way we can 'remember' them with our scroll feed or from a log file.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

An emote when you look at X on Y would make a lot of sense here. It would allow for people to see things but also provide some balance to the fact that you can memorize a 64 digit string of random characters in the half second it takes for someone to put a piece of paper away on the other side of the street from you.

Gleaning a key off a paper in passing and immediately adding it is believable, actually. Since you're using thought to add the key, you're going directly from visual to mental, bypassing any requirement for reading comprehension or even transliteration. It'd take 2 second max to realize that you're looking at a key and then maybe 3-4 additional seconds to scan it into your thought. If you're a dummy, maybe a few seconds longer.

But really, if you even follow someone that has sensitive data out in the open for a single room, that's long enough to believably add it to your SIC. From there, it's saved and you can copy it from your thoughts afterward.

No memorization required--not even storing it in short-term memory--as long as you immediately add the key. Secure your sensitive data, people.

Whilst something like a flyer or a photo I feel would be visible in someone else's hands there are other things where the text is too small to realistically be read without holding it yourself. Examples could be newspapers, resumes and letters (although these may already be accounted for, I forget).