A method includes receiving, at an intermediary layer, from a camera of a head mounted display (HMD), image data of a real-world operating environment of the HMD at a first time. The method further includes identifying, at the intermediary layer, one or more objects in the image data, determining, at the intermediary layer, coordinates of a region comprising the one or more identified objects, determining a display permission for the one or more identified objects, modifying the image data in the region comprising the one or more identified objects according to the display permission and outputting the modified image data to an application executing outside of the intermediary layer.