Privacy Guides @lemmy.one Whooping_Seal @sh.itjust.works 1y ago

Blurring and / or pixelating

I am curious as to what are the best practices regarding blurring and / or pixelating a portion of a photo. I understand the reasons why the website suggests to put a black box over text one wishes to redact, but for other content that is not text what is the best choice. Should a combination of the two be used or just one? E.g. for blurring a face or something else within an image.

Thanks!

3 comments

Solid color square is probably the only good solution. Blurring/pixelation might work for photos of things that were never photographed before or after. There are ways of reconstructing the original if you have multiple blurred photos of the same subject, and even the current generation of AI is pretty good at guessing what the blurred image might show.
Blur/pixelation can be brute forced. Just use a black image to cover up any info.
Somewhat related, but ObscuraCam on Fdroid is great for quickly censoring photographs with options for both pixelation and solid blocks.