[mbreese]

Neither do I... and I think people will disagree on this. Programmers like being able to make strict rules for stuff, but I think that this is one of those "you know it when you see it" moments.

And to make it more complicated - I don't necessarily think that it is up to the person to decide. Unfortunately, to some degree, the public gets a say.

[thaumaturgy]

The public gets a say, true, but the public is made up of individuals, and each individual has the ability and responsibility of deciding how to handle someone else.

We aren't talking so much about the public here as we are about one person -- Annie Lowrey -- who made the decision to publicize the contact information for someone who clearly wished to remain more private.

[mbreese]

Don't forget though, she is a professional journalist writing a story for a professional publication. She didn't setup some 'whyisfoobarbaz.wordpress.com' blog with the sole purpose of outing him. That's already happened.

[thaumaturgy]

That's true, and in my mind, that makes her actions more reprehensible, not less, because the consequences of becoming the subject of a professional publication are greater than those of being the subject of someone's blog.

As someone else already pointed out, his name can now be cited in the Wikipedia article on him.