Canard, you definitely didn't offend me. I just think more people shouldn't worry about what other people are doing when it doesn't effect them. I probably should have kept that to myself though. So, sorry about that.
Jamincan, I agree you don't have a reasonable expectation of privacy on the street. But just because someone can do something, doesn't mean they should. As a general ethical rule (and not law) I think people shouldn't take/post pictures of other people without their knowledge/permission. There are definite exceptions, and people are free to feel differently than I do on what those exceptions should be. Edit: (Construction crews are generally an ok exception to me because they're working on a public project that people rightly very interested in. But note, I'm personally not ok with people that post things like construction workers taking a break or having lunch.)
The car is also different because they're much more likely to cause problems in a construction site. But I don't think its actually a double standard. If one of those pedestrians had gotten hurt because they were trespassing on a construction site, I think a bunch of people would be laughing at them too. Personally, I wouldn't be laughing at either. But I'd also think both people had no one to blame but themselves.
Anecdote, we had a locally closed road around here for quite awhile and there was a period when it was open-but-not-officially-open with no construction happening. I got a nail in my tire during this period of time and was talking to a guy at the shop who was repairing it. He started going on a big rant about how constriction crews are lazy and never clean up nails like they're suppose to and how I should report them and yadda yadda yadda. I had to sheepishly tell him it wasn't their fault, and it was almost certainly my fault for driving where I shouldn't...
Jamincan, I agree you don't have a reasonable expectation of privacy on the street. But just because someone can do something, doesn't mean they should. As a general ethical rule (and not law) I think people shouldn't take/post pictures of other people without their knowledge/permission. There are definite exceptions, and people are free to feel differently than I do on what those exceptions should be. Edit: (Construction crews are generally an ok exception to me because they're working on a public project that people rightly very interested in. But note, I'm personally not ok with people that post things like construction workers taking a break or having lunch.)
The car is also different because they're much more likely to cause problems in a construction site. But I don't think its actually a double standard. If one of those pedestrians had gotten hurt because they were trespassing on a construction site, I think a bunch of people would be laughing at them too. Personally, I wouldn't be laughing at either. But I'd also think both people had no one to blame but themselves.
Anecdote, we had a locally closed road around here for quite awhile and there was a period when it was open-but-not-officially-open with no construction happening. I got a nail in my tire during this period of time and was talking to a guy at the shop who was repairing it. He started going on a big rant about how constriction crews are lazy and never clean up nails like they're suppose to and how I should report them and yadda yadda yadda. I had to sheepishly tell him it wasn't their fault, and it was almost certainly my fault for driving where I shouldn't...