YouTube introduces auto face blurring

YouTube has announced new privacy pro feature that allows video uploaders to blur the faces of everyone in a video with just a simple click.

According to the blog post detailing the feature, the idea is to allow anonymity for those that need or deserve it. Examples given include children in home movie footage, or protesters in countries where the government might use the video against those speaking out.

To use the blur feature, all you need do is navigate to the Video Enhandements tool, go to “additional features” and hit apply for the “Blur All Faces” button. YouTube admits that this isn't a perfect technology yet and as such may not detect every face within the video due to lighting or camera angle, but the majority should be.

“YouTube is proud to be a destination where people worldwide come to share their stories, including activists. Along with efforts like the Human Rights Channel and Citizentube that curate these voices, we hope that the new technologies we’re rolling out will facilitate the sharing of even more stories on our platform,” said Amanda Conway, a YouTube policy associate.

KitGuru Says: This technology is a nice little feature to add to the current YouTube offerings. Hopefully YouTube doesn't apply the filter when the video is viewed, but when uploaded . Otherwise you could have companies or governments petitioning YouTube to reveal the original footage.

Image source: YouTube

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