Face-blur tool to empower user
YouTube has just launched face-blurring application
If revolutions are about heroes, modern-day revolutions are being led by video-sharing site, YouTube. The site has just launched a face-blurring application, adding to its privacy features. New-age cyber activists and social media buffs are seeing this new addition as an empowering tool.
Student and activist, Devika Mittal gives thumbs up to the blurring option. She feels that concealing the identity of both the whistleblower and the victim on the Internet is the need of the hour. “The face-blurring application is definitely a responsible thing that the site has come up with. It’s very important to protect the victims when the video of a regrettable incident is uploaded,” she says, referring to the Guwahati girl molestation case, the video of which went viral, and led to the identification and arrest of the perpetrators.
An avid Internet user, Sajid Quadri, 24, an engineering student, feels that video-sharing sites promote change at a trans-national level, and the “crooked” already stand shaken by the Internet revolution, but this new tool may weigh down the impact. “An un-blurred video expose generates a greater impact then the one which does not openly reveal the face. So, it would be easier for the corrupt to accuse that their video has been tampered with,” he says.
Cyber law expert Pavan Duggal informs that the option of protecting the identity of the concerned individual is in compliance with the US laws, and agrees the blurred video can’t serve as prima facie evidence anymore. “While the original video will remain with YouTube, it’s not clear how easy would it be to obtain it. Infact, the video with blurred face will lose its legal veracity,” he says.
Interestingly, while there are dozens of video-sharing websites, only YouTube will be turning into being a privacy-protecting site.
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