I'm a bit baffled how you think that recording personal information of people you see from your porch, without even telling them what or why are you doing it, is anything but unethical.
It has long come to my attention that the way we engineers look at ads differs a lot from what average people think. A lot of average people like ads. Many of them are actively interested in the latest deals. Example: I disabled ads in one of the apps my mother was using because "obviously" they are annoying. My mother became annoyed and wanted them back because she's always on the lookout for discounts. My wife wants me to sign up for snail mail advertisements from local businesses because she too is interested in discounts and new goods.
Don't fall into this trap of thinking that people universally hate ads, or that everybody perceive ads as brainwashing them into buying stuff they don't want.
Also I have had the same experience as you, I know people many tech illiterate folk that actually like seeing ads.