Some German residents who opted out of Google's Street View service received a hostile response on Saturday, when an unspecified number of homes, all of which appear blurred on Google Street View, were egged by vandals, Deutsche Welle reports.
By providing photographic views of streets, sidewalks, businesses and private residences, Google Street View creates the effect of transporting users into the location they're searching. In accordance with the Google Maps privacy policy, Google automatically blurs faces and license plates photographed during the image collection process. Google also accepts individual requests to blur specific buildings, plots of land or other visible items.
In Germany, where Street View recently launched, 244,000 citizens reportedly requested that Google blur their homes to protect their privacy.
According to Search Engine Land and Deutsche Welle, people believed to be "Google fans" reportedly hurled eggs at several Essen homes that had been blurred. Notes that read "Google's cool" were found attached to the mailboxes in front of the homes.
"We don't yet have any leads pointing to a perpetrator," a spokesperson for the Essen police department told Deutsche Welle.