Just weeks after the right to be forgotten ruling, Google has started blurring properties belonging to celebrities on its Google Street View.
The company has been receiving several requests by European users to stop showing information about them in search results following the ruling by European Court of Justice.
Recently, the homes of celebrities such as Paul McCartney, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Lily Allen, singer Katherine Jenkins, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, etc., have disappeared from Google Street View, which is used by many to navigate through the streets of the US and the UK.
Also blurred out is the £3.5 million worth Edinburgh mansion of Fred Goodwin, former Royal Bank of Scotland Chief Fred Goodwin, who was strongly lambasted for the collapse of the bank in 2012. Only the homes of these celebrities are reportedly blurred and the rest of the streets appear normal.
Google Street View pictures already have blurred people’s faces and car license plate numbers in order to protect identities. Google said that it provides sufficient tools using which people can request the company to further blur images of them or their family and also their properties and cars in order to protect their identity and privacy.
Google, however, can only stop these images and links from showing up in the search results and the information cannot be wiped out from the internet. Users who wish to expunge information about them completely from the internet should deal with it at the source.
Google displays a message that some information may have been removed under data protection law in Europe at the bottom of the search results page. The company has also notified popular news companies including the BBC, MailOnline, and The Guardian that it will stop showing the news articles published by them in search results very soon.
[Image Credit: DailyMail via Google Maps]
