[mercutio2]

"Societies usually"?

I know a few European cultures, most notably the Germans, make a big deal about this difference, but I'm not aware of other cultures where distinguishing between public-but-obscure and public-and-indexed is a thing.

In my opinion it's a terrible distinction to make, as it gives users false comfort about what's actually unavailable to the public.

[kuschku]

Even the US seperates stalking from taking a picture of random people in the background of a landscape picture.

The difference between "public and indexed" and "public but obscure" is huge.

It’s also the same difference as "taking a photo of outside" vs. "permanent video surveillance of everywhere".