Is it Okay to Read a Friend's Private Blog or Secret LiveJournal?

So somehow, maybe from late-night Googling or by accident, you have found a friend's private blog or LiveJournal-they have no idea that you are aware of it. Should you read it anyway? There are several considerations to juggle before you come to a decision. First of all, will this create an "awkward" tension in your friendship or relationship? Is there the possibility that you will accidentally mention a piece of information posted on the blog, thus outing yourself a bit of an online snoop?

If you don't trust yourself to keep your mouth shut, you definitely should just ignore the blog. Pretend you never found it. There are, however, mitigating circumstances where snooping on a friend's blog may be okay. (Of course, every situation is unique and different-I am not telling you to stalk your friends!)

If your friend has been acting depressed or weird lately, maybe a quick perusal of his or her blog will give you some much-needed insight. If what you find there is disturbing, maybe you can pressure your friend into speaking with a professional therapist or psychiatrist. Or maybe you can tell someone if you feel your friend is in real danger of some sort.

As you can see, reading a friend's private blog opens up a whole Pandora's Box of problems. It may be too much for the average person to deal with-or for anyone to deal with, really. In addition, what if you read a posting on their blog that references you? What if he or she has a secret crush on you? Or what if they hold you accountable for something you had no idea they cared about?

I suppose in this circumstance you could try to-in a subtle way-approach the subject in conversation sometime to try to get some degree of resolution.

Or, you could admit that you found their blog online and read some posts that were about you. On the one hand, you are being an honest friend by admitting this-but on the other hand, your friend will now most certainly delete the blog or move it to a more secure format.

As you can see, there are no clear answers here. It is a difficult issue-online privacy is a complex issue, even in 2009, and it is important to trust your gut instinct. Also, consider the golden rule in online privacy situations: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Would you want a close friend to read your secret blog without telling you about it? Or would this bother you? If it would bother you, perhaps you should give your friend the privacy he or she deserves and leave that Pandora's Box unopened for now!