Can Googling to find out information be a sin?

[Stavros]

I have a friend who went on a “business trip” out of state. While I was not sure, I had suspicions that a lawsuit might be involved due to the fact that he was going back to where he used to work.

After a few weeks of missing him, I Googled his name and sure enough, I found a news article discussing his involvement in court this week in another state. I told a mutual friend and together we are fasting and praying for the well-being of our friend.

Here’s my question - I feel guilty for a) looking for information that is completely not my business, and b) telling a friend, and possibly causing scandal. The nature of the lawsuit is not something that would cause a scandal, as it is a civil rather than criminal trial. I’m glad I know about the struggle of my friend so that I can pray extra hard for him, but I also feel a bit “dirty” digging around and finding the information that I did.

I’ve got a nasty OCD-level habit of Googling people to find every ounce of information possible about them that is available on the internet.

I’m not sure where to go from here. I tend to be very scrupulous about things, and can’t tell if what I did was genuine concern for a friend, or putting my nose in where it didn’t belong. It’s one of those “once you have seen you can’t unsee” kind of things for me, but I can’t tell if this was inappropriate or truly sinful. Feel free to bash away if I deserve it - I’m up for a lesson in humility today.

 

[maryjk]

I have a friend who went on a “business trip” out of state. While I was not sure, I had suspicions that a lawsuit might be involved due to the fact that he was going back to where he used to work.

After a few weeks of missing him, I Googled his name and sure enough, I found a news article discussing his involvement in court this week in another state. I told a mutual friend and together we are fasting and praying for the well-being of our friend.

Here’s my question - I feel guilty for a) looking for information that is completely not my business, and b) telling a friend, and possibly causing scandal. The nature of the lawsuit is not something that would cause a scandal, as it is a civil rather than criminal trial. I’m glad I know about the struggle of my friend so that I can pray extra hard for him, but I also feel a bit “dirty” digging around and finding the information that I did.

I’ve got a nasty OCD-level habit of Googling people to find every ounce of information possible about them that is available on the internet.

I’m not sure where to go from here. I tend to be very scrupulous about things, and can’t tell if what I did was genuine concern for a friend, or putting my nose in where it didn’t belong. It’s one of those “once you have seen you can’t unsee” kind of things for me, but I can’t tell if this was inappropriate or truly sinful. Feel free to bash away if I deserve it - I’m up for a lesson in humility today.

My first though is negated by the second piece that I have put in Bold type. Then looking at the last bit that is in bold,

Go with the feeling. You should feel guilty.

At this point you are right, you can’t "unsee " anything. But it really sounds like you were putting your nose in where it didn’t belong. Your friend would have told you about the case, if he had wanted you to know. Then to tell another person? Don’t be surprised if when your friend returns, he is upset with you. I know I would be.

 

[Trishie]

Love others as you love yourself, Jesus said.
A good question, then, is would I like it if someone googled all my information, especially if I have something to hide?

Telling someone else. That’s serious. You can’t undo that injustice.

scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s2c2a8.htm

2477 **Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury.278 He becomes guilty: **

• of rash judgment who, even tacitly, assumes as true, without sufficient foundation, the moral fault of a neighbor;
• **of *detraction *who, without objectively valid reason, discloses another’s faults and failings to persons who did not know them;**279
• of *calumny *who, by remarks contrary to the truth, harms the reputation of others and gives occasion for false judgments concerning them.
  2478 To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor’s thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way:

Every good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another’s statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the other understands it. And if the latter understands it badly, let the former correct him with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try all suitable ways to bring the other to a correct interpretation so that he may be saved.280 2479 **Detraction and calumny destroy the reputation and honor of one’s neighbor. Honor is the social witness given to human dignity, and everyone enjoys a natural right to the honor of his name and reputation and to respect. Thus, detraction and calumny offend against the virtues of justice and charity.

**

 

[thistle]

Love others as you love yourself, Jesus said.
A good question, then, is would I like it if someone googled all my information, especially if I have something to hide?

Telling someone else. That’s serious. You can’t undo that injustice.

scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s2c2a8.htm

2477 Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury.278 He becomes guilty:

• of rash judgment who, even tacitly, assumes as true, without sufficient foundation, the moral fault of a neighbor;
• **of *detraction ***who, without objectively valid reason, discloses another’s faults and failings to persons who did not know them;279
• of *calumny *who, by remarks contrary to the truth, harms the reputation of others and gives occasion for false judgments concerning them.
  2478 To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor’s thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way:

Every good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another’s statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the other understands it. And if the latter understands it badly, let the former correct him with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try all suitable ways to bring the other to a correct interpretation so that he may be saved.280 2479 Detraction and calumny destroy the reputation and honor of one’s neighbor. Honor is the social witness given to human dignity, and everyone enjoys a natural right to the honor of his name and reputation and to respect. Thus, detraction and calumny offend against the virtues of justice and charity.

I’m open to correction but my understanding of detraction is that you must not disclose faults and failings of a person which are not already publicly known, even if they are true. If the faults or whatever of a person are publicly known (e.g. published in a newspaper) then telling someone who has not read the paper is not detraction.

 

[tvdxer]

I’ve often wondered this too.

I do admit to often doing Google (and Facebook) searches for people I’ve met or am going to meet. You usually DO NOT find bad things out about them that way, but rather their hobbies, what they do, what they’ve published, etc. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with conducting Google searches of individuals per se.

However, the Minnesota Judicial Branch does make information about everybody who’s ever had a court case or criminal conviction (even minor traffic misdemeanors) in Minnesota publicly available on a website. They even let you search by first or last name - and include a “Soundex” feature if you don’t know how their last name is spelled! I will be the first one to admit to using this site to look up the “criminal” records of former classmates, relatives, etc. out of pure curiosity. The ones who had extensive records were usually the ones I would expect beforehand to have them.

On one hand, telling third parties about other people’s sins without just reason (unless they are widely known in the media, etc.) is wrong, perhaps even rising to the level of a mortal sin if their reputation is seriously affected, or even, according to many authors, if the act in question is a mortal sin - though in a non-Catholic society where many mortal sins are thought of as nothing, I doubt that the strict interpretation of that norm holds any longer. Likewise, listening to such detraction, if it encourages the detractor to continue in his detraction, can be sinful too.

Looking at the freely-available public record of somebody and keeping silent about it is different, though, at least on the surface, and more difficult to determine the rightness or wrongness of. One basic principle to keep in mind is that every person has the right to the good opinion of others.

 

[HonoraDominum]

On one hand, telling third parties about other people’s sins without just reason (unless they are widely known in the media, etc.) is wrong, perhaps even rising to the level of a mortal sin if their reputation is seriously affected, or even, according to many authors, if the act in question is a mortal sin - though in a non-Catholic society where many mortal sins are thought of as nothing, I doubt that the strict interpretation of that norm holds any longer. Likewise, listening to such detraction, if it encourages the detractor to continue in his detraction, can be sinful too.

Looking at the freely-available public record of somebody and keeping silent about it is different, though, at least on the surface, and more difficult to determine the rightness or wrongness of. One basic principle to keep in mind is that every person has the right to the good opinion of others.

I suppose I should have made that a bit clearer - my friend did not sin. It’s a civil liability case where he is being sued for money (ambulance-chaser style), and in my opinion there was no wrongdoing on his part whatsoever. That’s what makes it so heartbreaking to me.