The problem of picturesque cities and towns!

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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The beautiful and picturesque cities and towns, which are many here in Netherlands for instance; the problem with them is that every time you step out on to the street or from the moment you arrive in these scenic cities and towns, you run the risk of unintentionally getting captured in someone or other’s camera, unexpectedly and at an unimaginable frequency; either getting immortalised in someone’s digital archive or soon to be published on all sorts of social or professional media. You will find yourself surrounded by amature and professional photographers alike, who just can’t help capturing the beautiful surroundings and in the process capturing you, while you may find yourself doing the same. Come to think of it; not to speak of locals and camera-shy, though it may sometimes be amusing but many a times rather uncomfortable and scary experience, even for tourists. It somehow feels very awkward at times and sometimes a nuisance, it also feels very different than the passive city surveillance, which are increasingly being boasted as essential application for smart cities, while later can still be controlled and be anonymised.

Getting unintentionally or intentionally captured in someone’s (eg. phone) camera is a social problem for sure, rather it’s not just a problem of a picturesque city, it’s a problem of any city, any tourist attraction, any commercial district, any event, any workshop etc.

Thinking of solutions, it’s not that nothing can be done; but certainly, choice cannot be left at the user end.

So, on part of all phone manufactures, they may play their role by allowing automatic and default feature something like face blur for unintended persons in crowed situations or otherwise (without compromising on the subject of interest or overall aesthetics of composition), may be based on geolocation or some algorithm; possibly on their next launch.

Social and professional media platforms may play their responsible role again by automatically blurring the faces of people in background or adding Bokeh blur or some other effects during the process of picture upload to public posts and during sharing/ forwarding of photographs, possibly on their next upgrade.  

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