Dear Editor:
A few years ago I blocked out the views of my house from Google Street View. However, I recently discovered that the Street View vehicle had taken updated pictures of my street, and my house was again visible, and in much greater detail! I was actually able to read my electrical meter from Street View and view objects inside of my house by zooming in on windows that were open. It also appears that the Street View cameras are much higher than the previous vehicle; based on the height of a pedestrian on my street, the cameras look to be at least 8 feet off the ground. So your 6 foot tall privacy fence may be mooted by the camera being able to peer over your fence.
I would suggest to fellow readers that they should periodically review Street View and other services, like Spokeo, to ensure that they are not being displayed for all the world to see.
I have noticed that in the last few months there has been an increase in suspicious activity on my street, and I thwarted a break-in attempt a few months ago – oddly enough, after the time the updated street view pictures were taken!! (thank the Lord I had a pistol on my person). A thief no longer needs to case your house out from the street – Google Street view does it for them!
To remove your home from Street View:
1) Find your address on Google Maps, and then zoom until the map flips from top-down to the ‘Street View’
2) Center your house in the street view
3) Find the very hard to read “Report a Problem” text on the lower left corner of the Street View & click
4) A new screen should popup (a new tab for me, you may need to turn off a pop-up blocker).
5) Click “Privacy Concern”, and then “My House” and then “I have found a picture of my house and would like it blurred”
6) Fill out the description field – I’ve cited recent theft attempts
7) Fill in an e-mail address – I would suggest using a fake e-mail address so that you are not telling Google what e-mail address lives at your house. (Side Note: Make sure your wi-fi is locked down, as they are probably sniffing this at the same time as well).
8) At this point you will see why we centered your house earlier – there is a red box around the center of your house in the image. Please note that you can adjust the red box from this screen as well, but the view is much smaller.
9) Fill out the word verification, and then hit submit
10) This is the most important step: you need to move the Street view up and down your street, and repeat this process from every part of the road that can see your house. I had to make 8 separate privacy submissions to fully block my house from Google Street View. To move the street view, there should be two or more white arrows on the road – click them, and you should see your location change.
– Nate in California