Annie Walton Doyle
The important reason why you should always blur your home on Google Maps has gone viral.
Let’s be honest – we’d all be lost without Google.
But the fact that the search engine giant knows quite so much about us all is a little bit frightening.
For example, in just seconds, you can have a look at the outside of pretty much any home in the world.
And now, some important advice about why you should always blur your home out on Google Maps has left the internet feeling freaked out.
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One commenter writes: “Sounds great! It is none of Google’s concern where I live.”
Another laughs: “Wow, if you’re at this level of privacy paranoia, be glad you never lived during the era of phone books and yellow pages.”
You may have noticed there are strange, blurred-out buildings dotted around when perusing Google Maps.
They look rather stark and weird, especially when the rest of the street is as clear as day!
But it turns out, it’s surprisingly easy to blur out your home.
You need to first go to your Google-approved browser, as this feature won’t work in iOS or Android systems.
Enter your home’s address, and go onto the street view.
You can then click on ‘Report a problem’.
Under ‘Why are you reporting this image’ use the ‘Request blurring’ tool and select ‘My home’.
Make sure you are dragging the red box over your entire residence to extend the blurring right to the perimeters.
You’ll be asked why, so just select ‘privacy reasons’, and enter your email address to confirm.
This will permanently blur out your home for anyone to see.
But why would you want to do this? Well, there’s actually an important reason for requesting the blur…
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It’s all about protecting your privacy.
You may wish to blur out your home as you can inadvertently be spotted through a window or in your garden.
But having your home out there for all to see can also help potential burglars scout out entry points for break-ins, or encourage petty thieves to check out where your delivery drivers may leave your parcels.
On its policy page, Google explains: “Google takes a number of steps to protect the privacy of individuals when Street View imagery is published to Google Maps.
“We have developed cutting-edge face and licence plate blurring technology that is designed to blur identifiable faces and licence plates within Google-contributed imagery in Street View.
“If you see that your face or licence plate requires additional blurring, or if you would like us to blur your entire house, car or body, submit a request using the ‘Report a problem’ tool.”
However, there is something to bear in mind. Once you’ve blurred, you can never go back.
“Be aware, Google offers no way to reverse this process,” one commenter warns.
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