Google Street View house blurring goes live in Germany

Google Street View launched over the weekend in Germany, complete with a small proportion of houses "removed." Roughly 3 percent of Germans included in the Street View covered areas objected to having their house photographed and included in the service. German privacy standards allowed officials to force Google into providing an opt-out, which allowed German home owners to request the removal of their house from the panoramic photos. The result is a completely blurred out house, including any garden frontage that might appear in the photo.

Although it's almost impossible to recognize the house from the Street View image, it certainly attracts a lot more attention to said house, which sticks out like a blot on the virtual landscape. That's probably not what objecting Germans wanted. Check out the blurred images yourself in Oberstaufen.

[Via CNet]

Tags: germany, google, google maps, google street view, GoogleMaps, GoogleStreetView, street view, StreetView