Is it OK to take pictures in public places?

Google Blogoscoped asks the question:

If your country’s police were to drive around town with cam-equipped cars, automatically taking photos of all public spaces, would you mind? If so, why? If not, why not?

I guess that has something to do with their earlier posts on issues related to Google Street View (one, two, three, four, etc).

I think that public places should be open for non-commercial photography, whether that is by police, mass media, amateur photographers, aliens, terrorists, or anyone else.

When I was in London earlier this year, I was at first shocked by the number of CCTV cameras.  It seems like every square meter is covered from several cameras at once.  And it wasn’t very welcoming.  However, less than a day later I simply got used to them.  I couldn’t even see them no more.  That hopefully illustrates the extent to which I don’t care.

What about you?

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