Fogging, also known as blurring, is used for censorship or privacy. A visual area of a picture or movie is blurred to obscure it from sight. This form of

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

is used for sexually related images/scenes, hiding

genitals A sex organ (or reproductive organ) is any part of an animal or plant that is involved in sexual reproduction. The reproductive organs together constitute the reproductive system. In animals, the testis in the male, and the ovary in the female, a ...

pubic hair Pubic hair is terminal body hair that is found in the genital area of adolescent and adult humans. The hair is located on and around the sex organs and sometimes at the top of the inside of the thighs. In the pubic region around the pubis bon ...

, or

sexual penetration Sexual penetration is the insertion of a body part or other object into a body orifice, such as the mouth, vagina or anus, as part of human sexual activity or animal sexual behavior. The term is most commonly used in statute law in the context ...

of any sort.

Pixelization Pixelization (British English, pixelisation) or mosaic processing is any technique used in editing images or video, whereby an image is blurred by displaying part or all of it at a markedly lower Image resolution, resolution. It is primarily u ...

is a form of fogging. In

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, where it is called ''bokashi'', fogging is employed on most films aired on public television that feature adult content of any kind. This form of editing also appears in television programs where an individual's face may not be shown due to legal or privacy concerns. As it does not contrast with the surrounding image very much, it is arguably preferable over most other forms of censorship. However, unlike other forms of visual censoring, it does not allow the preservation of any information about the original stimulus. Fogging is also used if a scene is too bloody and gruesome to be rendered even in black and white, as well as on vehicle license plates (to protect the identity of a vehicle's owner), and over branded items and specific company names.

References

* Censorship Self-censorship Obfuscation {{filming-stub