Alex, correct, roughly, on one level. that is . . . you could probably publish without running afoul of "rights of privacy" torts in most states. No guarantee that you'd not end up in court challenged over it... but you might well win due to the "public" factors you mention. However, there is a HUGE difference, in my view. Your photos, and this hypothetical, were not posed as a data collection in social science, approved by an IRB, sort of activity. In fact, as posed, you weren't doing social scientific research at all. Were you doing social scientific research and had you selected those people as research subjects in your work, your IRB would probably have wanted to have a talk with you about the use of photography . . . for one of the hallmarks of human subjects protection is that the data NOT BE CONNECTED TO THE INDIVIDUAL SUBJECT IN A WAY THAT CAN HARM THEM. You violated that. They had the right to be asked. In public or not. On Aug 11, 2007, at 2:38 PM, Alex Halavais wrote:
Similar hypothetical: A group of people engage in a fetish festival on a public street. Pretty racy and revealing stuff going on. As a researcher, I take pictures and observe the interactions and include them in a best seller called "Weird fetishists and the weird fetishes they engage in weirdly." Years later, this gets back to the participants, and they are tres embarrassed.
Edward Lee Lamoureux, Ph. D. Associate Professor, Multimedia Program and Department of Communication Co-Director, New Media Center 1501 W. Bradley Bradley University Peoria IL 61625 309-677-2378 <http://slane.bradley.edu/com/faculty/lamoureux/website2/index.html> <http://gcc.bradley.edu/mm/> AIM/IM & skype: dredleelam Second Life: Professor Beliveau