information hazard

Noun

information hazard (plural information hazards)

1. A risk arising from the dissemination of true information.
   • Information hazards are risks that arise from the dissemination or the potential dissemination of true information that may cause harm or enable some agent to cause harm. Such hazards are often subtler than direct physical threats, and, as a consequence, are easily overlooked.2011 August, Nick Bostrom, “Information Hazards: A Typology of Potential Harms from Knowledge”, in Review of Contemporary Philosophy, volume 10, →ISSN
   • He thinks the scientific enterprise needs better norms around potentially dangerous information. First: Don’t spread it. Second: If someone tells you that your work represents an information hazard, “you should seriously respect their call.”2018 October 4, Ed Yong, “A Controversial Virus Study Reveals a Critical Flaw in How Science Is Done”, in The Atlantic