Why some houses on Google Street View are blurred out

A house in San Francisco's Sunset District is blurred out on Google Street View. A house in San Francisco's Sunset District is blurred out on Google Street View. Photo: Google Street View Photo: Google Street View Image 1 of / 37 Caption Close Why some houses on Google Street View are blurred out 1 / 37 Back to Gallery

Have you ever cruised through a neighborhood on Google Street View and noticed a blurred house?

And then wondered, is that because someone famous lives there and/or is my internet connection so bad Google Street View won't render all the way?

Well, turns out, neither is likely true. According to the technology company, it allows users to submit a request to have a home, a car or even themselves obscured.

And it's actually incredibly simple to submit: you click on the three stacked dots in the top left corner of the Street View image to find an option to "Report a Problem."

You just might want to think long and hard before you report.

"Once Google blurs an image, the effect is permanent," a Google spokesperson told SFGate in a statement.

It's unclear how Google confirms the user submitting the request is the actual owner of a home or car (or is the person in the image), and the company wouldn't provide a comment on specifics.

ALSO: Apps blamed for turning a tiny street in Glen Park into a traffic nightmare

First launched in 2007 in the United States and later expanded to other countries, the feature delivers an almost virtual reality-experience through stitched-together panoramic images taken mainly by cameras mounted on the roofs of Google cars driving up and down streets. So you can check out the paint colors on Victorians in the Haight, the landscaped front yards of the mansions in Seacliff, or the exterior of a house for sale in Noe Valley without ever having to leave the comfort of your couch.

While many love Google Street View, the technology has come under fire by privacy advocates who point to instances of images showing people engaged in activities they might not want made public, such as sunbathers in bikinis and men leaving strip clubs.

In San Francisco, a man was photographed walking into an adult bookstore on Eddy Street in San Francisco and women were captured sunning themselves topless in a park at Stanford, the San Francisco Chronicle reported when the feature was first launched.

Google has argued Street View only features what's visible from public streets and is therefore within the law. In some countries this reasoning hasn't flown. The feature was banned in Austria, Germany and India.

Amy Graff is a news editor for SFGATE. Email her at agraff@sfgate.com.