"Pixelating out" - how annoying?!

[SurreyGuy]

I'm noticing that more and more things that appear on news programmes, magazine programmes, documentaries, etc contain "pixelating out" (not sure if that is the correct term). Is this PC gone mad?!

What is the sense in a) blurring the faces of people (who are only in the background) in news items or home movie clips, b) blurring out vehicle registrations (if a criminal want to "clone" one, they only need to look in the street), c) blurring out shop names, road names, trade names on vehicles. For goodness sake!

That pixelating/blurring out makes the clips, features un-enjoyable to the point where I often just switch over now!

[Ethel]

Because they can only show people if they have their consent. If consent is refused the face must be pixelated.

Vehicle registration numbers can identify the owner, who may not want his friends and relatives to know he was in the area.

[SurreyGuy]

I still think it's PC gone mad!

If people's permission is needed before their faces are shown, then how come everyone's face in every programme isn't pixelated out - surely 100% of the people haven't consented to their faces being shown?

It would ahve never happened in the "old days"! :o)

[airbolt]

Things have moved on since newspapers published pictures of suspects with a huge squre in front of their face.

I remember a cartoon in private eye with two criminals getting handcuffed saying " I would have got away but i can't see a thing with this square in front of my face "

[andy-hughes]

Ethel is quite correct - people who are identifiable in a filmed situation must give consent to be shown, or be pixelated out.

Exceptions to this are crowd events such as concerts and sports events, where a condition of buying a ticket often includes consent to be filmed, and therefore shown in the media.

Number plates need to be pixelated because cars change ownership, and it's unfair for an innocent owner to be assocaited with the activities of a previous owner, which may be criminal. For the same reason, trade names and indications of locatio0ns need to be removed to protect people who are uninvolved in the activity in question.

Similarly, poilce or paramedics may simply wish their identities to be protected to enable them to continue to do their jobs without being identified.

[SurreyGuy]

I still think it's PC gone mad. I know that , in certians scenarios, people have to give their permission to be shown, but......................if that is the general case, why doesn't everyone's face on a beach get blurred out? I know those at is an extreme case, but I'm just illustrating my point.

With regards to registration numbers, I can't beleive that someone would look at an innocent piece of film and say, "oh look, there's Mickey the Jemmy's old motor. I bet the guy who now owns it is a cad, too"! :o)

Anyway, it would seem that I am in the minority when it come to being annoyed by this, so I will walk away and hide behind nmy patch of blur! :o)