They're all very convincing. Probably because there are thousands of people with backpacks at an event like this, and they tend to take them off and put them on when they stop or want to take something out. But hey, let's just get their photos posted all over the internet as bombing suspects.

Just asking out of curiosity: Do the US not have some right of being in photo, being singled out and shown without consent?

Wouldn't it be a crime or at least be against basic human rights?

Trying to understand, as I'm not american and wish to come to grips with the reasoning behind showing these images in public and not mailing them to law-enforcement.

edit: Killing repeating use of "just asking" ;-)

The other responders are correct, in a public place you do not have an expectation of privacy, so a photographer can capture you image and you can't stop them. However, should that photographer chose to publish the image, things get more complicated.

Take the example of an ad agency snapping a picture of you on a public sidewalk and later broadcasting that image in a $10M CocaCola Superbowl commercial. You own your own image, and are owed compensation for that advertisement. And it is fully within your rights to not accept an agency's offer to compensate you at all, thereby preventing them from legally using the image you have been capture in for commercial purposes.

Now, if you are in a picture, but nearly impossible to identify (ie: a crowd shot taken at a baseball game, or a marathon finish) then the image can probably be used without your permission and without compensation.

Newsworthy events, of which this clearly qualifies, also change the rules. Press have expanded rights when it comes to publication of images. But is reddit a news site? When it comes to UGC relating to a news worthy event, do the individuals publishing enjoy similar rights to the press? To what extent? And assuming that there aren't 6 murderers all wearing backpacks, can the innocent ones successfully sue for defamation if/when their names get published?

Answers to these questions aren't clear, so I expect that one of these internet-witch-hunts-that-identify-the-wrong-person will end up in court sometime soon. Maybe one already has? Anyone know?

Thanks for clarification. I only have the knowledge from the German perspective so it is interesting to see, how this is handled in other countries.

I am not a lawyer, but I think you're safe sharing photos of public places. I don't think you have an expectation of privacy in a public place.

Not in the us. You are only shielded from pictures in places where you have the expectation of privacy; the bathroom or your bedroom when it's unknown to you are good examples. The finish line of the Boston marathon doesn't have this type of privacy guarantee.