I've been making street photographs since the mid-1980's here in the S.F. Bay Area and other urban settings around the country. I find this issue of privacy an interesting subject. I understand the legal underpinnings here in the U.S. (probably inaccurately) is that if there is an expectation that you are seen in public, then you are fair game to be photographed. Then there's the finer point of whether your photography is for artistic or commercial use. Again probably inaccurately, I believe that so long as you are not using the image for commercial purposes, fair game. This is all the legal stuff. But then there's the personal stuff to wrestle with...
When I'm photographing someone on the street (nearly always without their knowledge or consent), I'm thinking about why I want the image. If its to show what my community looks like, to show what the people of this era look like, to show the craziness (or lack of) that people on the streets are up to, then fair game. But as soon as I feel the image might fall into the catagories of 'lurid' or 'exploitation', I put the camera down.
In addition, when discussing this issue, I'll pose the question: What possible harm can this photograph be put to? If the image is of someone walking down the street, what harm could I be up to? Generally I find the answers to that question are something along the line of "I can't think of anything, but I don't trust you." That answer is not enough for me to let someone else dictate what I choose to photograph.
AND... do these people realize that they are being photographed daily by people pointing their cell phone cameras at nearly every square inch of our lives??
AND... why should we not leave behind a record of what the world looked like in the 21st century?
You can see some of what I've considered allowable in my flickr album here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/162489811@N04/albums/72157714123754882
