system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5 Why does the TV show Cops need someone to sign a release form and To Catch a Predator or even celebrity dirt / TMZ shows don't?

On Cops there are people with their faces blurred out all the time, but on To Catch a Predator they're never blurred and I'm sure they don't sign a release then. What gives?
gpt
It has to do with where the individual is being filmed.

The reason paparazzi are able to take pictures of celebrities is because they are almost always taken in a public place. In most places in the country, it is completely legal to film anyone who is in public or in view of the public (this is why paparazzi stand on sidewalks and film people out walking).

You are also allowed to film and photograph anyone on your own property.  This is how "To catch a predator" works. They have proprietary rights over the homes they work out of. Although in about half of the states, it is illegal to record a person , either over the phone or with a camera without getting their consent first. So "to catch a predator" cannot do what it does in all states.

Since "cops" often takes place in other peoples property, they have to gain consent of the homeowners, bar owners, crack house owners, to publish photographs taken on their property.

Tldr: Watch it again. If people are in the background eating at a restaurant or on some other private property, faces will be blurred out. If they are standing around in the road, you will see their faces.