4 ms·

I'm not sure why you try to present this as such a black and white situation. You yourself have stated that what is ethical and what is legal is not always the

I'm not sure why you try to present this as such a black and white situation. You yourself have stated that what is ethical and what is legal is not always the same thing. If I surreptitiously record you admitting to a crime, is releasing that recording unethical, even if it's technically illegal? And do you really believe that the law should be used to prevent such activity? I would argue that laws against recording people are unjust and clearly exist to make it harder to hold certain people accountable for their words and deeds. What you do with a recording certainly can be unethical or illegal. If I record someone purely so that I can go back and take better notes or otherwise remember what we discussed, I see nothing unethical about that. Conversely, using such a recording to embarrass you, misrepresent you, or blackmail you, those activities are clearly unethical and in some cases clearly illegal.

nobody9999 4y ago
You completely misunderstand my point. Which is probably my fault. I'll elaborate. I'm not so concerned about the legal ramifications of surreptitously recording conversations. I would never do that, as I believe it's unethical to do so. Whether it's legal (and in many places, only one party needs to know that a recording is being made) or not, I believe that recording someone without their knowledge is unethical. Full stop. That's it. I don't care (too much) about the law or whether or not there's any real jeopardy if someone breaks that law. It's still wrong. Some may disagree with that assessment. But I do not want to be surreptitiously (I keep using that word. It definitely means what I think it means.) recorded. tl;dr: Surreptitiously recording other people in the course of everyday life is wrong and unethical, regardless of circumstance.
- tallanvor 4y ago
  It is your opinion that it's unethical to record people without informing them, and it's fine to take that position. My position is that the act of recording someone without their knowledge is not inherently unethical, and that the reason for the recording and how you use it is what determines whether or not you are doing something unethical.

nobody9999 4y ago

You completely misunderstand my point. Which is probably my fault. I'll elaborate. I'm not so concerned about the legal ramifications of surreptitously recording conversations. I would never do that, as I believe it's unethical to do so. Whether it's legal (and in many places, only one party needs to know that a recording is being made) or not, I believe that recording someone without their knowledge is unethical. Full stop. That's it. I don't care (too much) about the law or whether or not there's any real jeopardy if someone breaks that law. It's still wrong. Some may disagree with that assessment. But I do not want to be surreptitiously (I keep using that word. It definitely means what I think it means.) recorded. tl;dr: Surreptitiously recording other people in the course of everyday life is wrong and unethical, regardless of circumstance.

tallanvor 4y ago
It is your opinion that it's unethical to record people without informing them, and it's fine to take that position. My position is that the act of recording someone without their knowledge is not inherently unethical, and that the reason for the recording and how you use it is what determines whether or not you are doing something unethical.