In one embodiment, an apparatus comprises a communication interface and a processor. The communication interface is to communicate with a visual computing device over a network. The processor is to: access visual data captured by a camera; detect a particular feature in the visual data, wherein the particular feature comprises a visual indication of privacy-sensitive information; sanitize the visual data to mask the privacy-sensitive information associated with the particular feature, wherein sanitizing the visual data causes sanitized visual data to be produced; and transmit, via the communication interface, the sanitized visual data to the visual computing device over the network, wherein the visual computing device is to use the sanitized visual data to process a visual query associated with the visual data.