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Brit celebs' homes VANISH from Google's Street View

Tony Blair's digs now a Tone-y Blur

Google is scrubbing out the homes of Blighty's rich and famous from its nosey Street View site.

It has been reported that the likes of former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair, former Beatle Paul McCartney and Led Zeppelin axeman Jimmy Page have had their houses blurred on the mapping service.

Popstar Lily Allen and former RBS bank boss Fred Goodwin have also had images of their homes blocked out on Street View.

Google has allowed individuals to have pictures of their mansions blurred on privacy grounds, so it's hardly that surprising to see celebs getting in on the act.

"Your privacy and security are important to us," the ad giant claims in its Ts&Cs.

"The Google Maps team takes a number of steps to help protect the privacy and anonymity of individuals when images are collected for Street View, including blurring faces and license plates. You can easily contact the Street View team if you see an image that should be protected or if you see a concerning image."

A number of national newspapers in the UK inferred that more 'schlebs may have submitted these requests to Google in light of the May European Court of Justice ruling on the data-processing behemoth's search index. But it's unclear to us that this suggestion holds up to proper scrutiny. It may just be a coincidence that the residencies of Blair et al are now blurred on the service. ®

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