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A

young man goes
to visit his older
brother in New York City,
and they share a weekend together.
When he leaves his brother's apart-
ment to head back to Detroit, how-
ever, he forgets to sign out of his
Facebook account. The older brother
is now logged in to his younger
brother's Facebook account and
finds this to be an opportune time to
defame him as a practical joke.
A sibling's joke might be harmless,
but there are many cases in which
privacy is violated when people
innocently forget to log out of their
Facebook accounts or email. In this
era of hyper interconnectivity and
over-sharing, what are the
guidelines for ethical online
behavior?
While social networking
through the Internet is a
new phenomenon, the ethi-
cal issue of privacy is not.
Centuries before the inven-
tion of email and status
updates, Rabbenu Gershom
issued a ruling concerning
privacy when it came to
other people's information.
The German rabbi issued a
takkanah (religious decree)
making it a sin to open and
read someone else's mail. This legal
ruling ensured the privacy and safety
of mercantile transactions between
Jewish communities.
Rabbenu Gershom would have
objected to peeking at someone
else's email or Facebook account.
No matter how curious one may be,
other people's information should be
respected and kept private, whether it
resides in physical envelopes or in the
virtual cloud.

Share, But Beware
In addition, we must be careful not to
divulge information that shouldn't be
shared. There is a tendency on social
media sites to disclose opinions and

private
matters
that should not be
made public, even to a
close-knit circle of networked friends.
The relationship status on
Facebook is an area that often
gets people into trouble. Teenagers
might use that feature liberally and
carelessly; but for adults, it can be
destructive and damaging to the
relationship.
An example is a married couple
that has an argument at night.
Before going to bed, one partner in
the relationship changes
the relationship status on
Facebook from "Married"
to "It's Complicated" or
worse, "Single." When
they wake up in the
morning the rumor mill
has already heated up
with concerned friends
trying to figure out what
happened.
Taking domestic dis-
putes to the public arena
of Facebook — where
they are etched into the
permanent history of the
Internet — is not healthy for the
relationship. It is often best to ask
yourself what you would have done
with that anger before there was the
option of posting it on Facebook for
all to see at the speed of light.
One adult Facebook user recently
listed the name of a physician who
she felt mistreated her child and
suggested others post the names of
the doctors they would advise others
to avoid. As the list of rants about
local doctors grew and became more
hostile, the originator of the post
finally decided it should be removed.
But, damage to many professional
reputations had already been done.
Facebook is also not the proper

