[jlarocco]

Because algorithms aren't arbitrary physical laws, they're created deliberately by people.

"My spambot sends spam because the algorithms it follows tells it to, so it's out of my hands," wouldn't fly, and I don't think it's an appropriate defense here, either.

[LesZedCB]

I would say that spam is inherently wrong (unethical), search/autocomplete isn't.

[AkThhhpppt]

Why is direct mail marketing unethical, but ignoring the very real distress linking this man's name to suggested criminal history isn't? We have to consider the effects what we do has. When we only had local impact, if we did something silly or damaging we could guess the impact, and quite possibly see everyone affected. In these Internetted times, if a product can do something silly or damaging it may have spread around the globe before it's found out. We need to be aware of this.

(Note: not debating the morality of spammers; merely asking a Socratic question.)

And jlarocco was only using spam as an example of an algorithm; telling someone "I can't turn my spam-sending program off" is as silly as saying "I can't stop that autocomplete result showing." It's a difference of magnitude, not of kind.