Should you blur your home on Google Street View? Why it might be a bad idea

(NEXSTAR) – It’s not uncommon to scroll through Google Street View and find a home that’s been blurred from view at the request of the homeowner, whether for privacy or security reasons.

But is that really such a good idea?

“My personal feeling is that you should not blur your house, in general,” cybersecurity expert Joseph Steinberg told Nexstar.

Steinberg, also the author of “Cybersecurity for Dummies,” said people who blur their houses on Google often believe that would-be burglars might be studying Street View to identify their home’s access points or security features. But unless you’re a high-profile person, or you’re living in a high-security facility, Steinberg believes blurring your home is not only pointless, but potentially detrimental.

Burglary is “a crime that has to be done locally,” Steinberg points out, “so if they’re going to rob your house … they can come before and take [their own] pictures, if they want.”

A blurred home may also pique a criminal’s interest, he said.

“It’s called ‘the Streisand effect,’” said Steinberg, referring to Barbra Streisand’s attempt to sue a photographer who took an aerial photo of her home while documenting the erosion of California’s coastline in 2002. The lawsuit, in which Streisand claimed a violation of privacy, was ultimately dismissed the following year, but not before backfiring and drawing widespread attention to the appearance and location of Streisand’s Malibu home.

“If you blur your house … that’s interesting to me as a criminal, and I may drive by,” Steinberg argued.

Google, too, already blurs “identifying information like faces and license plates,” but leaves it up to users to “report” any other buildings, cars or “objects” they might like obscured, per the site.

The tool, however, is not perfect. As users have pointed out on Reddit, people using Street View might still be able to see a see a blurred property by simply advancing down the street to change the angle. Others complained that Google does not verify whether the person who requested the blurring is the actual owner of the home. (Google only requires an email address from the person submitting the request. When asked specifically whether Google requires proof of address, a representative for the site did not answer.)

Blurring is also permanent and irreversible, according to Google — meaning that you, or anyone else who inhabits your home or business after you, will never be able to unblur it, even in future Street View updates, Google says.

“I clicked to do mine and it did my neighbor’s. Lol,” one Reddit user claimed. “Also you can’t [undo] it. Sorry bro.”

In the end, Steinberg told Nexstar that blurring your home on Street View — a practice which he believes became somewhat of a fad — does little more than “draw attention to yourself for no reason.”

“This is a classic example of people not looking at the big picture and having a knee-jerk reaction,” he said. Are you better off safety-wise if you blur it? I think you’re worse off.”