So when is it alright to take a photo, and when is it not?

I'm becoming increasingly concerned about the near hysteria surrounding the taking of photographs in a public place.  Not directly related to my previous post but with a similar theme of "should I be worried, very worried?".

I've always owned a camera, although to be honest, I'm not much of a 'photographer'.  The advent of digital photography revolutionised my attitude toward photography.  No longer did I have to wait to get the photos back from the chemist only to find one or two in a roll of 36 were of any real use, or worth keeping - neither did I have to worry about the environmental cost of the chemicals used to process the film and print the images.  Obviously, digital photography worked out a whole lot cheaper for me, too!

My theory, and one shared I'm sure by many photographers, is based upon volume - in other words, the more pics I take, the greater the chance of getting more usable photos.  The DELete key being deployed in much the same way as the recycling bin used to be for photos that didn't work.

So I carry my camera, only a cheap pocketable, almost everywhere I go.  I also have a reasonable camera on my mobile telephone - and I've recently (alright, a year or so ago) invested in a digital SLR for serious playing with all those settings and effects.

But I'm getting increasingly reluctant to use them.

I can fully understand concerns around child protection and civil liberty implications of taking photographs that my be published, however my main concern is around the perception now made of anyone wielding a camera.  I used to take lots of pics at different car club events, country shows and in my local park.  In the case of the latter (available from www.fompp.org) I discussed with the parents of the children used on the main slpash page whether they'd mind me using the picture - at the time (a couple of years ago) they queried why I would bother asking?

Now, however, I feel the general attitude would be somewhat different.  So I've stopped taking photographs that include 'people', which is a shame as they're my favourite subject matter along with boats and old cars.  This has even extended to taking pictures of family and friends that I may wish to put on a website - not for fear of how family or friends may feel, but potentially how any published images may be taken and otherwise manipulated or misused.

I'm not sure if I'm just over-reacting, or being unnecessarily paranoid, but for now, pics of family and friends, my neice and nephews and wonderful Godson and other folk we meet up with rarely - if they're taken in the first place - will have to stay on my hard drive.