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From stolen celebrity photos to leaked domestic-violence videos, we are more tempted than ever to sneak glimpses of others' private lives. When is it okay to look?
Submerging yourself in the daily churn of the internet provides plenty of ethical quandaries, but the past month has put the ethics of web browsing — and, more precisely, the ethics of avoiding certain things — into unusually stark relief. Because increasingly, the ethical dilemmas of the internet era turn not on whether to share, comment on, or disseminate something, but whether to look at it at all.
The key thing is your reason for looking. Titillation, voyeurism, grotesque curiosity — if that's what's motivating your actions, don't look. But if you are motivated by genuine concern and believe that watching will challenge you to confront something difficult, and potentially change your views in a way that is good for our society, then by all means, look. We'll all be better off for it.
I found this to be an interesting read.