YouTube adds face-blurring feature

CALIFORNIA: YouTube said yesterday users can now blur faces on the videos they upload, a feature that could help save lives — as well as reputations. It has added a tool which automatically blurs out the faces of people appearing in uploaded videos.
“As citizens continue to play a critical role in supplying news and human rights footage from around the world, YouTube is committed to creating even better tools to help them,” wrote Amanda Conway, YouTube policy associate on the site’s blog. Users who wish to use the function must first upload their footage before selecting one of the site’s Video Enhancement tools. They are then given a chance to see a preview of the blurred footage before making the version available to others.