back to article Google trials Street View face-blurring tech

Google has begun to roll out Street View images with the faces of innocent bystanders to its drive-by captures suitably blurred - a response to increasing privacy concerns over the service's indiscriminate broadcasting of the unwashed masses. A post on the Google Earth and Maps blog earlier this week explained the search …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Alex

    That's rubbish!

    If that photo is representative of the extent of GBlur then they might as well not bother. Distinct physiques, distinct clothing, only slightly blurred faces and the obvious point of the locations being a predictor of whether it's a given person in shot (e.g. a view happens to be near a person's workplace).

  2. Robajob
    Coat

    The next generation

    Surely the next step for this technology is just to blur the ugly people.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Anyone else...

    think that the guy on the far right is aiming a gun at someone?

  4. Ralph B
    Thumb Down

    Some Street View

    Pah! Due to their continued use of ancient map data for my corner of Switzerland, my whole street - now 11 years old - fails to appear on either their 2D or satelite maps, so I can probably forget about them needing to blur my face for another quarter century or so.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    not good enough

    I was captured by one of their cars in London (with the TXi logo on) outside work having a crafty ciggie. I'm tall, have long hair and was stood outside my office.

    If some of the people I've lied to about giving up smoking (parents) were to check my office on streetview, it would be pretty obvious that it was me still.

  6. Marvin the Martian
    Thumb Up

    Blur blur blur... blur some more... blur

    Will they also blur the face of my kitty that's sitting in the window? Animals are people too!

    More reasonably, you want your expensive/attractive stuff to be hidden from view, so blurring should also apply to flat screen tv's etc, but then presence of blurring shows interesting thing to be there.

    I hear from that arrested pedophile that blurring can be undone? Oh no, that was the swirl-blurring, maybe not this type.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    Hmmmm

    Two phrases you don't often see in the same article:

    "state-of-the-art automatic face detection" and "stricter privacy safeguards"

    Mine's the tin foil donkey jacket.

  8. fins gd
    Alien

    Ahhhh..

    That explains what happened to Microsoft's Worldwide Telescope. I bet the little green men wanted their privacy :)

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    Run over by the GTruck ?

    "We've always said Street View will respect local laws..."

    Obviously not the ones about driving over a pedestrian crossing while there are people on it.

  10. David

    @ fag-munching AC

    "If some of the people I've lied to about giving up smoking (parents) were to check my office on streetview, it would be pretty obvious that it was me still."

    Mmm, yeah. Or they could just go to your office. IMHO all this is doing is enabling people to see something which was in the public domain in the first place, but without having to get off your butt. It's not as if it's searchable by people's names.

  11. Charlie
    Joke

    Can't have people seeing us walking down the street

    I have a right to privacy! If i'm walking down the street in a busy city I insist that everybody close their eyes and respect my RIGHT to walk down the street without being looked at.

  12. J-Wick
    Happy

    Re: Run over by the GTruck?

    Have you *been* to New York? Let's not get carried away, here!

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    @J-Wick

    What, that village next to Shiremoor?

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    No blurring please...

    I'd prefer it is Google put happy smiley faces on everyone caught on camera!!

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    bad ! GCar

    Google is too arrogant, they will go down soon ...

    Advanced face recognition ? whats advanced in that .. it was long long used ... i guess they should stick to search and stop trying to do everything, they dont know anything.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Smiley Faces?

    "I'd prefer it is Google put happy smiley faces on everyone caught on camera"

    The Laughing Man logo, surely

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like