In 2008, Google began blurring people’s faces in Street View, a component of Google Maps that shows panoramic imagery of streets, to protect their privacy. Apparently, the search giant is serious about bovine privacy too.
This week, an anonymous cow caused quite a stir after its face was blurred by Google. David Shariatmadari, an editor at the Guardian, stumbled on the Street View image, which was taken in a semi-rural part of Cambridge in the UK. He shared it on Twitter, where it’s amassed more than 11,000 retweets.
In a pun-filled statement to the BBC, Google admitted its face-blurring technology may have been “a little overzealous.”
A spokesman added: “Of course, we don’t begrudge this cow milking its five minutes of fame.”