Interested in protecting the privacy of your home? Google Maps may be the answer

ATLANTA — In today’s digital age, seeing what someone’s home looks like is often just a click away.

Google Maps Street View can allow people to take virtual tours down streets using a collection of photos taken over the years.

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The images can be useful for someone trying to get a feel for an area, for friends making sure they are at the right home, or potentially for criminals to help scout out potential targets.

“This is the trade-off we see between personalization and privacy,” Emory Professor Ramnath Chellappa said.

However, there has recently been a trend of homeowners requesting that Google blur their homes, to try and get some of their privacy back.

“It’s definitely better than nothing. Because it does not t make it easy for somebody who is planning a burglary to have a clear-cut view of your house, your entrance where the cameras are located,” Professor Chellappa said.

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However, the professor says it is only a step. Blurring your home will not remove it from sites like Zillow, Apple Maps, or other online services that may have pictures or information about your home. Chellappa says it just makes it a little harder for would-be criminals.

“If you feel that this is intrusive, you should go and do it,” Chellappa said.

How to Blur Your Home?

The process has been around for years and is simple.

• Go to Google Maps and go to the address on Streetview.
• Look for the three dots near the address and go to “report a problem”
• Request your home be blurred. You can even move the box image around to make sure the entire home is blurred. Then, submit the request.

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