# Why are people's eyes blacked out in some pictures? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 12, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-peoples-eyes-blacked-out-in-some-pictures/228757 "2004-02-12T00:35:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Vision\_of\_Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Vision\_of\_Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vision_of_Love)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-peoples-eyes-blacked-out-in-some-pictures/228757/1 "2004-02-12T00:35:31Z")
To clarify, why is it that, instead of just blurring the whole face of a person in a picture (to protect their identity), they sometimes get this black rectangle covering their eyes? Wouldn’t it still be pretty easy to identify them? Or does the eye cover serve a different purpose? ---
**Author:** ![dakravel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@dakravel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dakravel)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-peoples-eyes-blacked-out-in-some-pictures/228757/2 "2004-02-12T02:54:14Z")
It’s just another way to obscure the person’s face so it’s harder to identify them. I’d say if you saw a picture of someone with bars over their eyes, you’d be hard pressed to identify them. ---
**Author:** ![dakravel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@dakravel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dakravel)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-peoples-eyes-blacked-out-in-some-pictures/228757/3 "2004-02-12T03:50:48Z")
I also got bored. So go to [http://lumen.endofinternet.net/personX.jpg](http://lumen.endofinternet.net/personX.jpg), where X is a number from 1-10 with no leading 0. Oddly enough, my friend’s beat this thing to death, one got all of them right with barely trying. Also, if that address doesn’t work, (happened to my friend, I guess the redirect is funny), you can go to [http://s91085422.onlinehome.us/personX.jpg](http://s91085422.onlinehome.us/personX.jpg) As I’m posting this, three of my friends got 90% of them correct, so I guess it’s not that hard, but keep in mind all those people are very well known. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-peoples-eyes-blacked-out-in-some-pictures/228757/4 "2004-02-12T03:57:37Z")
It’s a method of obscuring the identity of someone that predates technology that allows easily blurring faces by many decades. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-peoples-eyes-blacked-out-in-some-pictures/228757/5 "2004-02-12T04:29:21Z")
The only ones I can’t get are 7 and 6… 3 - Washington 2 - GWB 1 - Britney Spears 4 - Bill Murray (Stripes) 5 - Bill Murray (current) 8 - Keanu Reeves 9 - John Cusack ---
**Author:** ![dakravel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@dakravel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dakravel)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-peoples-eyes-blacked-out-in-some-pictures/228757/6 "2004-02-12T05:44:09Z")
Heh, you didn’t try 10? Well, I guess people want answers, so… 1 - Britney Spears 2 - George Bush 3 - George Washington 4 - Bill Murray 5 - Bill Murray 6 - Jude Law 7 - Elijah Wood 8 - Keanu Reeves 9 - John Cusack 10 - Clint Eastwood I think I made them too easy all in all \>\_\<. Should have picked less well known people. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-peoples-eyes-blacked-out-in-some-pictures/228757/7 "2004-02-12T05:49:19Z")
Hey! I was about to get #7. 😛 IMHO, it’s kindof a one-way obscuring feature; if you know the person, you can probably tell who they are. If you don’t, and you run in to them later, I don’t think you’d make the corrolation. ---
**Author:** ![pothead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecb155/32.png) [@pothead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pothead)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-peoples-eyes-blacked-out-in-some-pictures/228757/8 "2004-02-12T05:50:03Z")
I think it really depends on your knowledge of popular culture. I got the first three right, but the rest I had no clue as to their identity. Nice test. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-peoples-eyes-blacked-out-in-some-pictures/228757/9 "2004-02-12T06:15:24Z")
Heck, I didn’t get any of them except for GW. Must be local US culture. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-peoples-eyes-blacked-out-in-some-pictures/228757/10 "2004-02-12T06:19:28Z")
> [@icephoenix](#): > > Or does the eye cover serve a different purpose? It’s so _they_ can’t see _you!_ :eek: ---
**Author:** ![dakravel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@dakravel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dakravel)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-peoples-eyes-blacked-out-in-some-pictures/228757/11 "2004-02-12T08:14:16Z")
We likey our pop culture icons and movie stars. Movie stars especially, and I think most of the ones I picked are rather favored ones. I suppose I should have done a test wherein you were supposed to match up entirely random people with another picture of them where their eyes are censored out. That probably would have been a better control test. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-peoples-eyes-blacked-out-in-some-pictures/228757/12 "2004-02-12T18:31:51Z")
I saw this a lot in my medical microbiology class, where the professor would use pictures of people infected with various nasty bugs to show us what they did. They’d black out the eyes because usually, there was something on the face that we needed to see. Of course, every single time, the professor made the same joke - “On top of having this infection, this poor guy was also blind, as you can see.” Ha ha. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-peoples-eyes-blacked-out-in-some-pictures/228757/13 "2004-02-12T23:15:56Z")
Damn it! I was so gonna say that 6 was Jude Law!!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Flash-57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/839c29/32.png) [@Flash-57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flash-57)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-peoples-eyes-blacked-out-in-some-pictures/228757/14 "2004-02-12T23:32:21Z")
I’ve always heard that the eyes were the most recognizeable feature of a person’s face (no cite). If the eyes are covered up, it should make the face much less recognizeable. And it makes intuitive sense to me. If only a person’s chin, or ears, or forehead, or lips, or cheek, or nose were covered up, I’d have a much easier time recognizing them than if their eyes were covered. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-peoples-eyes-blacked-out-in-some-pictures/228757/15 "2004-02-12T23:39:14Z")
> [@dakravel](#): > > I also got bored. So go to [http://lumen.endofinternet.net/personX.jpg](http://lumen.endofinternet.net/personX.jpg), where X is a number from 1-10 with no leading 0. > > Oddly enough, my friend’s beat this thing to death, one got all of them right with barely trying. > > Also, if that address doesn’t work, (happened to my friend, I guess the redirect is funny), you can go to [http://s91085422.onlinehome.us/personX.jpg](http://s91085422.onlinehome.us/personX.jpg) > > As I’m posting this, three of my friends got 90% of them correct, so I guess it’s not that hard, but keep in mind all those people are very well known. I think this kind of shows that it doesn’t work. It shows that people who know or are familiar with a person will recognise them anyway (I got all the ones that I’m familiar with on the page), people who don’t know them aren’t going to care one way or the other. A lot of these blacked-out-eyes type of shots often show the entire person so there are other clues such as stature, clothes, etc.