There is no expectation of privacy in public. It's really that simple.
There is an expectation you are not constantly tracked everywhere you go by a nationwide surveillance apparatus, that your location is not constantly monitored, indexed and shared. Unless you expect to live in an Orwellian distopia.
Quit applying online things and TV so-called "news" to the world and follow what's happening around you instead.
The issue is not that people are being recorded in public, the issue is people are being recorded in public and the data is being correlated nationwide and accessed by government officials without any of the usual controls, oversight, or transparency that necessarily goes with such efforts when government is involved.
Whether you realize it or not, you're arguing for an authoritarian society. Perhaps that's what you want - some people do - but sane people will always resist that kind of behavior, because ultimately it hurts everyone.
Flock is a clever workaround that should be illegal, but before that can happens we can get them removed at the city council level.
Traffic cameras, by comparison, only record people's in public. A police officer isn't violating privacy laws by standing at an intersection and writing down the plates of cars passing by is he? Flock is just automating that task.
The whole reason why we have license plates is to facilitate monitoring cars. If we really think that people have a right to keep their vehicular activities private, then surely the bigger privacy violation is the fact that we require cars to display unique identifiers in a prominent manner?
No law is that simple. You can be photographed when you’re out in public most places, yet stalking is also illegal most places.
You can take notice of beautiful women in public. You cannot take upskirt photos.
You can eavesdrop on a conversation at the park. You cannot put mics under all the benches.
Privacy is a situational continuum of invasiveness. Just because there is no expectation of privacy from the state in using public roads does not mean we should tolerate corporations building profiles analyzing the comings and goings of citizens.