{{Short description|Risk caused by disseminating information}} [[Image:Izawa-type training light machine gun instruction manual (3).jpg|thumb|Instruction manual for operating a light machine gun]] An '''information hazard''' or '''infohazard''' is "a risk that arises from the dissemination of (true) information that may cause harm or enable some agent to cause harm".<ref name="Bostrom Hazards 2011" /> It was formalized by philosopher Nick Bostrom in 2011. It challenges the principle of freedom of information, as it states that some types of information are too dangerous, as people could either be harmed by it or use it to harm others.<ref name="Bostrom Hazards 2011" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Wortmann |first=Fletcher |date=28 August 2019 |title=Infohazard Warning: How Internal Memes Infect Your Brain |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/triggered/201908/infohazard-warning-how-internal-memes-infect-your-brain |access-date=14 May 2021 |website=Psychology Today |language=en}}</ref> This is sometimes why information is classified based on its sensitivity.
One example would be the instructions for creating a thermonuclear weapon.<ref name="Bostrom Hazards 2011" /> Following these instructions could cause massive amounts of harm to others, so limiting who has access to this information is important in preventing harm to others. == Classification == According to Bostrom, there are two defined major categories of information hazard. The first is the "adversarial hazard"<ref name="Bostrom Hazards 2011" /> which is where some information can be purposefully used by a bad actor to hurt others. The other category is where the harm is not purposeful, but merely an unintended consequence that harms the person who learns about it.<ref name="Bostrom Hazards 2011" />
Bostrom also proposes several subsets of these major categories, including the following types:<ref name="Bostrom Hazards 2011" />
* '''Data hazards''': A piece of data that can be used to harm others, such as the DNA sequence of a lethal pathogen.<ref name="Bostrom Hazards 2011" /> * '''Idea hazards''': General ideas that can harm others if fulfilled. One example is the idea of "using a fission reaction to create a bomb". Knowing this idea alone can be enough for a well-resourced team to develop a nuclear bomb.<ref name="Bostrom Hazards 2011" />{{Rp|page=3}} * '''Knowing-too-much hazards''': Information that, if known, can cause danger to the person who knows it. For example, in the 1600s, women who allegedly possessed knowledge of the occult or birth control methods were at a higher risk of being accused of witchcraft.<ref name="Bostrom Hazards 2011" />{{Rp|page=9}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Levack|first=B.P|title=The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe.|year=1987}}</ref>
== Usage by context == === Biotechnology === The availability of information on DNA sequences of diseases or the chemical makeup of toxins could lead to adversarial hazards, as bad actors could use this information in order to recreate these biohazards on their own.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lewis |first1=Gregory |last2=Millett |first2=Piers |last3=Sandberg |first3=Anders |last4=Snyder-Beattie |first4=Andrew |last5=Gronvall |first5=Gigi |date=May 2019 |title=Information Hazards in Biotechnology |journal=Risk Analysis |language=en |volume=39 |issue=5 |pages=975–981 |doi=10.1111/risa.13235 |pmid=30419157 |bibcode=2019RiskA..39..975L |issn=0272-4332 |doi-access=free |pmc=6519142}}</ref> In 2018, a research paper led to media coverage by explaining how to synthesize a poxvirus.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Esvelt |first=Kevin M. |date=2018-10-04 |editor-last=Coyne |editor-first=Carolyn B. |title=Inoculating science against potential pandemics and information hazards |journal=PLOS Pathogens |language=en |volume=14 |issue=10 |article-number=e1007286 |doi=10.1371/journal.ppat.1007286 |issn=1553-7374 |pmc=6171951 |pmid=30286188 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=19 January 2018 |title=A paper showing how to make a smallpox cousin just got published. Critics wonder why |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/paper-showing-how-make-smallpox-cousin-just-got-published-critics-wonder-why |access-date=2025-01-04 |website=Science |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2018-02-19 |title=Horsepox synthesis: A case of the unilateralist's curse? |url=https://thebulletin.org/2018/02/horsepox-synthesis-a-case-of-the-unilateralists-curse/ |access-date=2025-01-04 |website=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists |language=en-US}}</ref>
=== Information security === The concept of information hazards is also relevant to information security. Many government, public, and private entities have information that could be classified as a data hazard that could harm others if leaked. This could be the result of an adversarial hazard or an idea hazard. To avoid this, many organizations implement security controls depending on their own needs or the needs laid out by regulatory bodies.<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/53/r5/upd1/final |title=Security and Privacy Controls for Information Systems and Organizations |last=Force |first=Joint Task |date=2020-12-10 |publisher=National Institute of Standards and Technology |issue=NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-53 Rev. 5 |language=en}}</ref>
=== Law === Willful ignorance is the deliberate avoidance of knowledge of facts. In common law jurisdictions it is treated as equivalent to actual knowledge.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Principle of Wilful Blindness and Its Implications in The Malaysian and English Legal Systems – Legal Developments |url=https://www.legal500.com/developments/thought-leadership/the-principle-of-wilful-blindness-and-its-implications-in-the-malaysian-and-english-legal-systems/ |access-date=2025-06-07 |website=www.legal500.com}}</ref> It is applied in criminal proceedings and corporate liability cases, particularly where individuals or entities deliberately restrict their access to information to avoid legal or ethical responsibility.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bovensiepen |first=Judith |last2=Pelkmans |first2=Mathijs |date=December 2020 |title=Dynamics of wilful blindness: an introduction |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/home/coa |journal=Critique of Anthropology |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=387–402 |issn=0308-275X}}</ref>
=== Literature === The idea of forbidden knowledge that can harm the person who knows it is found in many stories in the 16th and 17th centuries, which imply or explicitly state that some knowledge is dangerous for the viewer or for others and is better left hidden.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ginzburg |first=Carlo |date=1976 |title=High and Low: The Theme of Forbidden Knowledge in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries |url=https://academic.oup.com/past/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/past/73.1.28 |journal=Past and Present |language=en |issue=73 |pages=28–41 |doi=10.1093/past/73.1.28 |issn=0031-2746|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
=== Popular culture === The idea of an information hazard overlaps with the idea of a harmful trend or social contagion. In it, knowledge of certain trends can result in their replication, such as in the case of certain viral trends that can be physically dangerous to those who attempt them.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dangerous Social Media Challenges: Understanding Their Appeal to Kids |url=https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/Media/Pages/Dangerous-Internet-Challenges.aspx |access-date=2023-11-14 |website=HealthyChildren.org |date=9 April 2018 |language=en}}</ref>
==See also== {{div col|colwidth=30em}} * BLIT (short story) * Censorship * Copycat suicide * ''Infinite Jest'', "The Entertainment" therein * Information security * Inquisition * Jury nullification * Knowledge (legal construct) * Malinformation * Mass shooting contagion * Roko's basilisk * SCP Foundation, where articles commonly use this device * The Funniest Joke in the World * The Game (mind game) * The King in Yellow * Vulnerable world hypothesis{{div col end}}
==References== {{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="Bostrom Hazards 2011">{{Cite journal |last=Bostrom |first=Nick |date=2011 |title=Information Hazards: A Typology of Potential Harms from Knowledge |url=https://www.nickbostrom.com/information-hazards.pdf |journal=Review of Contemporary Philosophy |volume=10 |pages=44–79}}</ref>
}}
Category:Hazards Category:Information