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I hope it comes with the option of fuzzing out houses on demand. I believe Germany has this feature? Since law enforcement is so weak here, I don't want Google Maps to create a privacy nightmare.


What excatly is the privacy nightmare of a static frontal picture of your house? Because of the concerns of the german population Google canned StreetView in Germany, which is a shame IMHO.


Let's say you apply for a job. They ask you for an address, and you give it to them. Most bosses may be cool people, but some of them tend to pry. If they get to see the street view of your house at the click of a button, they can estimate how rich/poor your family is, and can use it against you. For example, if the job applicant comes from a very poor family, they may play hard-ball with salary negotiations.

Or your sister posts a pic of herself on Instagram, showing a quarter of the house-front. Some random creep who recognizes the locality can use street-view to narrow down where she lives. All from the comfort of his own home.


Is this not a global feature? I've had my house blurred in the Netherlands for years now.


How to apply for this kind of thing?


There is a 'report a problem' link in the ⋮ (vertical ellipsis, three dots) menu. From there you should be able to request blurring for people and houses etc.

You'll have to do it several times, because usually not all years are done at once, and not all angles. I think I had to report it five times or so.




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