Google menaces penguins with Street View Antarctica

Flightless bird face blur tech goes missing

Google has trained its all-seeing Street View eye on the penguins of Antarctica.

The web giant has been known to kill penguins. And now it's invading their privacy.

In announcing Street View Antartica, Google boasted that its photograph-the-world-and-put-it-on-the-web contraption now covers all seven continents. Today, in addition to Antartica, it exposed Brazil and Ireland.

Er, where's the face blurring?

In Google's mind, the service will help the penguins, not hurt them. Penguins, the company said, can use the service as a navigation tool. "We hope this new imagery will help people in Ireland, Brazil, and even the penguins of Antarctica to navigate nearby," Google said.

No word on whether the company intends to target penguins with display ads. Or slurp their Wi-Fi traffic. But none of that is worse than death. Maybe. ®