YouTube Unveils Face-Blurring Tool

The issues related to privacy and anonymity are impossible to remain concealed where the Internet is concerned. While keeping this thing in mind, Google has introduced a new feature for YouTube that will enable users to disguise faces within videos.

“Whether you want to share sensitive protest footage without exposing the faces of the activists involved, or share the winning point in your 8-year-old’s basketball game without broadcasting the children’s faces to the world, our face blurring technology is a first step towards providing visual anonymity for video on YouTube,” YouTube said in a blog post.

In order to use this blurring tool, first of all, you need to select the video from YouTube’s Video Enhancement tool where you find Additional Features, and then press the “Apply” button under the Blur All Faces option. Once you are done with this process, preview the video before publishing to confirm that the changes made are according to your requirement.

After making the necessary changes, save the video and a new copy will be formed. You have the option to delete the original copy of the video which shows the faces.

However, YouTube is quick to stress that technology is “emerging” and may not work seamlessly.

“It’s possible that certain faces or frames will not be blurred,” YouTube said.

YouTube suggests the users to keep their videos private if they find the blurring feature unreliable.

This is however an intelligent move from YouTube, as more and more people are becoming part-time videographers, capturing key events and incidents from their phones and other devices. And with the help of this blurring feature, they can easily disguise faces and hide the identity of people they don’t want to reveal.

Google is already using the blurring tool to obscure faces and license plate numbers on its Street View mapping service.