Ethics Topics: Public Embarrassment

This may not be what people think of first when they think of digital ethics, but do you ever wonder about those websites that are designed for the purpose of mocking others. One example to gain recent notoriety is People of Walmart. It's funny. It's hilarious. But are these real people in the pictures? Do they know they are being photographed? Have they given their permission for their photographs to be used for public mockery? Are these viable ethical concerns?

The site, People of Walmart, actually does have a statement defining at least some of its own ethics on the About page:

This is purely for entertainment purposes only. We don’t need to see pictures of you and your dumb friends dicking around at Walmart. There is no reason to send us pictures of people that are seriously and unfortunately handicapped so don’t be an asshole. We are trying to have some fun here and there is a difference between someone who is mentally challenged and a person who has a fu Manchu and is still rocking MC Hammer pants.

By this logic, there are times when it is okay to mock people and times when it isn't. To a degree, we probably all ascribe to that principle. Where we might differ is in the particulars of when, where, and how mockery is harmless and when, where, and how it is unacceptable.

The Wall Street Journal published an article in 2007 about people who use the Internet to shame others for bad behavior, calling into question the act of public shaming itself. You can find a copy of the article here.

What do you think? What are the ethics of using the Internet to publicly embarrass others either for entertainment purposes or for purposes of correcting bad behavior?