We love Google, oh yes we do, but there's no question the company could use some brownie points when it comes to
privacy. That's not to say Mountain View doesn't try -- the firm
does blur license plates and faces in
Street View when it's not
unintentionally snooping our WiFi. However, a UCSD graduate student has a more thorough idea: simply make the pedestrians disappear entirely. Arturo Flores' algorithm does just that, determining what to erase and what to keep using two adjacent frames. Because Google's roaming cameras end up taking images of the same subject from multiple angles, the program can grab bits of the background (in this case, the sidewalk, lawn and building) from either side, then layer them over the pedestrian in the foreground to hide him from view. It doesn't yet work on persons who are walking the same direction as the camera, or when there are many in the frame, but these obstacles can be surmounted at a later date. Here's hoping Google's PR team gives Arturo a buzz, so we can finally enjoy architecture without all those pesky humans in the way.
posted August 7th 2010 11:01PM
One bored fella!!
@Almo one bored fella, with possibly good job prospects at google :)
@McDuckScrooged exactly!...If only I could do something this constructive in my boredom lol
@Almo Can u imagine NYC with empty sidewalks..
@surfernerd6987 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480249/
@Almo
Stalin would be proud.
@surfernerd6987 around october 2001 NYC was ghost town like
@Almo why didn't he use the awesome new tool in photoshop. That correction is terrible it just looks like a ghost
@Ephemeral ..and would have all the regime photo retouchers killed whille being proud.
@Taller
Well obviously, they're all out to get him.
@Almo
Can he erase my ex-girlfriend from my photos?
That is one of the WORST photoshop jobs I've ever seen.
.
CS5 autofill.. lol
algorithm just sounds fancier
@rmbrown09
Too bad content aware fill does a better job than this chum's thing... if the image is actually taken from the software and not just clone stamped "example"
@rmbrown09
I bet it doesn't detect animals or objects attached, so we'll probably have floating dog leashes with dogs running around in some places XD
@Clyzm Rofl
@rmbrown09
From what i understand, if it makes the dog disappear, the dog lash will be 'erased' also.
Infact, whatever moves between the two frames, will be erased.
@Clyzm I see er umm dont see it now, Invisible Human's on a Leash!
@Abbas64 Windy day -- trees disappearing?
Does anyone else think it'd be more than a little creepy to look at street view and see all the sidewalks just empty?
It'd be like something out of "The Stand" :S
Couldn't get rid of that dog by the tree though.
@Edobe I guess he/she/it was taking a VERY long leak!
Um, how will i see the hookers of the world?
Those invisibility cloaks aren't quite perfect.
@d0mth0ma5 yea it kinda looks like the Predator is standing there with his invisable camouflage activated
@d0mth0ma5 I'm half tempted to photoshop in a cloaked Brute, that's what I'd do with my boredom.
But people-watching is what Google Street view was made for, right? Sheesh, dude, don't take the fun out of it!
@Eli Haj
Exactly! There's a brilliant one of my friend climbing into her bedroom window.
Google Street View: I Am Legend edition
He did a crappy job anyway.
@Wild Pig Lets see you do it better then?
@Wild Pig If he photoshopped it then it would be crappy, but he wrote a program than determined how to fill that in so it actually did pretty good.
@Wild Pig every person on every street doing perfect would take forever
Eh.. this kind of privacy is overrated. I'm pretty sure a real stalker is just going to go to the streets himself.
As far as I'm concerned, if your in public you have no reasonable expectation of privacy. Saying google should blur everyone out is like saying that all the fans should be blurred out at the superbowl.
@Apple Fan
Exactly, if people do not want to be seen by the general public, then they shouldn't go out into public! Google should not have to take responsibility for the privacy of others in public.
@Kyle Krcmaric
But isnt it illegal to run by, take a picture of someone, and post it without their permission?
I understand where your coming from, and obviously you dont mind getting your picture taken (i dont either)
But for those who are very insecure or are millionaires and feel that their privacy is a really big issue, then this is s problem
@uckApple "But isnt it illegal to run by, take a picture of someone, and post it without their permission?"
Nope. The only time it gets iffy is when money is involved, and then it's a civil matter not a criminal one.
@uckApple :
No, in most countries it's legal to take pictures from a public street (in general, there are some exceptions).
If somebody is clearly visible in the picture, you *would* need them to sign an image release if you wanted to use it for commercial advertising purposes (i.e. so people won't suddenly wake up to find their image posted on billboards or included in a stock photo library that gets onto to a zillion company annual reports).
If you're in doubt, google this - there is information around about photographer's rights.
Since everyone's a photographer these days you should probably be pretty grateful about this, as far as it goes - any law that definitely prevented Google including pedestrians in StreetView would almost certainly mean you could get sued if you take pictures of your friends at a party and post it on Facebook, and there's somebody else in the background...
Spy!
Brilliant.
You know, I really don't get what the big deal is here. Not about this dude's auto-copy/paste job, but about the whole privacy issue in general. I can kind of understand license plates on cars, fine, kind of unnecessary, but whatever. But why go to this length to erase _people_? They're pictures taken in a public space. There is no expectation of privacy here, legally or ethically. It's no different than if I go out and take a bunch of pictures and post them all on Photobucket or Facebook or blog them or whatever -- hell, there are thousands of photoblogs out there, some of them tremendously popular. So why is Streetview the least bit controversial in this regard?
@Mindfield - I agree..being able to see people is helpful is some cases.. Home renting/buying for instance.. unless you like the block party in the middle of the day kind of thing, with people on corners selling things to people in cars...
@Mindfield
i agree about the privacy thing being a non-issue, but people can obscure things you want to see
Kinda useless, why exactly would you want to erase all the people? Did anyone sue google for their body appearing in street view?
I see a Google job for him coming in the future.
The citizen is a spy!
Cloaking device has been engaged.
@pika2000 He looks like Snake in the beginning of MGS2, before the Stealth breaks on the ship
Oh wow photoshop big deal!!!!!!!! Lol