This is also useful for me for posting videos when I don't have a visual consent form signed for each of the persons appearing in the video. :) I'll definitely be able to post with less worries.
Let's say I'm wearing those sleek new Google Glasses. And I videotape, well, everything and everyone I see. And upload that onto Youtube. Only, those people don't want to be videotaped. What recourse do they have?
Great addition indeed! You should consider the possibility of manually adding and moving the blur as well, for cases when the automatic blur doesn't work, or to blur license plates, nipples, etc.
Hi Amanda. I hope it won't stay as 'all or nothing' for too long!
The technology is amazing but surely a very common use would be to obscure only the unknown faces, but showing consenting particpants. Then you could show just your own child in a scene, or just the key speaker at a rally without revealing the identities of those attending. In some more delicate examples of citizen journalism authenticity actually depends on seeing a key face, but of course protecting identities of others.
Could you not allow us to mark an area to exclude?
Risk 1: Simple blurring may be reversible, and YouTube admits that their process may not blur all faces. It would be better to blank or "blue-dot" the faces - this would be irreversible.
Risk 2: It's not clear whether reflections of faces would be detected and blurred.
Risk 3: YouTube might keep the original source video, even if you click "delete original", because Google never really deletes anything. And "deletion" might not perform a secure erasure, anyways.
It would be better to perform the face blanking offline, on one's own computer, whenever anonymity is needed. This provides the ability to blank selected faces, reflections, and clothing as well.
Agree that the all or nothing approach is fine for the time being, but being able to select which faces to blur will be even more useful. I remember Witness saying last year that they were lobbying various websites to make this possible, especially for sensitive countries where protests are forbidden.
I agree with Jonathan Marks. The ability to manually select which faces to blur (similar to selecting faces in facebook to tag) would be a useful enhancement. Also, in Google's own interest, not wasting increasingly amounts of server farm storage space by video duplication, a blur and UNblur function to the same video would be more convenient not only for the end user but will save Gigabytes of space for Google over all. A 50MB video clip duplicated might not be a lot, but duplicating multiple clips a user has multiplied by the number of users on YouTube, it ALL adds up.
Yes, I'd love to share the winning point in my 8-year-old’s basketball game without broadcasting his face.. well.. except it would be totaly pointless to even upload it.
Next step might be blurring all ads and logos, scrambling all even remotely copyrighted music in background and maybe simply changing the whole footage into one big silent black square..
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That's a pretty cool tool. Not only can people get the news out, but I'm pretty sure this tool will save lives. Well done YouTube well done.
ReplyDeletewww.youtube.com/watch?v=tN3vUUnjmxI
This doesn't seem to work on my videos. The Advanced features options doesn't show up.
ReplyDeleteIt would be neat to be able to choose which faces to blur. Then you could blur the protestors and keep the cops visible.
ReplyDeletetank's youtube
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry, but I don't see button Additional Featuures under the video.
ReplyDeleteIs this function available for all video?
This is also useful for me for posting videos when I don't have a visual consent form signed for each of the persons appearing in the video. :) I'll definitely be able to post with less worries.
ReplyDeleteLet's say I'm wearing those sleek new Google Glasses. And I videotape, well, everything and everyone I see. And upload that onto Youtube. Only, those people don't want to be videotaped.
ReplyDeleteWhat recourse do they have?
Does this only blur faces, or can I use it for any part of a video?
ReplyDeleteHi... I don't have the "additional features" dropdown on the enhancements page. When will this great feature be implemented for users?
ReplyDeleteHas this feature gone live? I'm unable to access it from my YouTube account deathboxproductions
ReplyDeleteBut can one use YouTube without a Google account? And does Google not require use of "real names" for Google accounts? Anonymity? What?
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea. What does youtube do with the unblurred faces file? if it is kept, what will they do if subpoenaed for the file?
ReplyDeleteHi everyone. The face blurring feature will roll out by the end of the day. It is not yet available on the site. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks Google, this is a really great initiative.
ReplyDeleteA suggestion: What about letting people easily overlay images on the faces? Eg, I could automatically add a meme face over everyone in the crowd.
This would give the chance to add a touch of humour whilst keeping anonymity.
I think that's a great video :)
ReplyDeletewow what a good services
ReplyDeleteWhat happens to the unblurred original .. Does Google or, because Google is a US company, the US government have access to the original ?
ReplyDeleteI would like YouTube to implement license plates blurring option :) Thanks.
ReplyDeleteCar Licence plate blurring would be even better than face blurring.
ReplyDeleteSurely this would be even easier to auto detect than peoples faces.
Google...You Rock!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat addition indeed! You should consider the possibility of manually adding and moving the blur as well, for cases when the automatic blur doesn't work, or to blur license plates, nipples, etc.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great move. Privacy issues are important to users like me who film for schools and community groups.
ReplyDeleteHi Amanda.
ReplyDeleteI hope it won't stay as 'all or nothing' for too long!
The technology is amazing but surely a very common use would be to obscure only the unknown faces, but showing consenting particpants. Then you could show just your own child in a scene, or just the key speaker at a rally without revealing the identities of those attending. In some more delicate examples of citizen journalism authenticity actually depends on seeing a key face, but of course protecting identities of others.
Could you not allow us to mark an area to exclude?
Thanks for listening
A good beginning, but there are risks.
ReplyDeleteRisk 1: Simple blurring may be reversible, and YouTube admits that their process may not blur all faces. It would be better to blank or "blue-dot" the faces - this would be irreversible.
Risk 2: It's not clear whether reflections of faces would be detected and blurred.
Risk 3: YouTube might keep the original source video, even if you click "delete original", because Google never really deletes anything. And "deletion" might not perform a secure erasure, anyways.
It would be better to perform the face blanking offline, on one's own computer, whenever anonymity is needed. This provides the ability to blank selected faces, reflections, and clothing as well.
Will rioters be able to blur their faces?
ReplyDeleteAgree that the all or nothing approach is fine for the time being, but being able to select which faces to blur will be even more useful. I remember Witness saying last year that they were lobbying various websites to make this possible, especially for sensitive countries where protests are forbidden.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jonathan Marks. The ability to manually select which faces to blur (similar to selecting faces in facebook to tag) would be a useful enhancement. Also, in Google's own interest, not wasting increasingly amounts of server farm storage space by video duplication, a blur and UNblur function to the same video would be more convenient not only for the end user but will save Gigabytes of space for Google over all. A 50MB video clip duplicated might not be a lot, but duplicating multiple clips a user has multiplied by the number of users on YouTube, it ALL adds up.
ReplyDeleteYes, I'd love to share the winning point in my 8-year-old’s basketball game without broadcasting his face.. well.. except it would be totaly pointless to even upload it.
ReplyDeleteNext step might be blurring all ads and logos, scrambling all even remotely copyrighted music in background and maybe simply changing the whole footage into one big silent black square..
I actually went and tried it. Everything seemed to work for me. Thanks YouTube
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKydvliba4A
Is there a way to do this automatically?
ReplyDeleteFeature you do not see the face of good people in YouTube يوتيوب فيترول
ReplyDeleteis your blog it is no relation to the youtube website?....your trick is cool.
ReplyDelete