'Overzealous' Google Street View takes issue of privacy too far
Google Street View team plays it safe and blurs the face of a cow after its car captures two cows grazing in the UK
Google’s automatic facial recognition blurred the face of a cow in Coe Fen, Cambridge. PHOTO: GOOGLE
There’s no denying that maintaining privacy is an important matter and Google has the responsibility of protecting the identity of the people its ‘Street View’ captures.
Whether this responsibility to protect the identities extends to animals is an interesting question. Irrespective of the answer, Google Street View team played it safe and blurred the face of a cow after its car captured two cows grazing in the UK.
The animals were snapped by Google's cameras at Coe Fen, Cambridge, and seemingly given the same treatment humans receive for privacy reasons.
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Although an image taken from a slight distance clearly shows the animal's face, but Google’s automatic facial recognition blurred it after detecting the face on a close-up.
The issue came into limelight after The Guardian's David Shariatmadari tweeted the image, saying it was "great to see Google takes cow privacy seriously".
Commenting on the bizarre incident, a Google spokesperson said: “We thought you were pulling the udder one when we herd the moos, but it's clear that our automatic face-blurring technology has been a little overzealous.”
“Of course, we don't begrudge this cow milking its five minutes of fame,” he added.
The article appeared on BBC.
Whether this responsibility to protect the identities extends to animals is an interesting question. Irrespective of the answer, Google Street View team played it safe and blurred the face of a cow after its car captured two cows grazing in the UK.
The animals were snapped by Google's cameras at Coe Fen, Cambridge, and seemingly given the same treatment humans receive for privacy reasons.
Google gives Faroe Islands a less woolly Street View
Although an image taken from a slight distance clearly shows the animal's face, but Google’s automatic facial recognition blurred it after detecting the face on a close-up.
The issue came into limelight after The Guardian's David Shariatmadari tweeted the image, saying it was "great to see Google takes cow privacy seriously".
Commenting on the bizarre incident, a Google spokesperson said: “We thought you were pulling the udder one when we herd the moos, but it's clear that our automatic face-blurring technology has been a little overzealous.”
“Of course, we don't begrudge this cow milking its five minutes of fame,” he added.
The article appeared on BBC.