Is it unethical for websites to mine bitcoin (or cryptocurrency) in the background of the browser without telling users?
This question originally appeared on Quora, the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.
Answers are by Kenny Delara, Adam Gering and Keith Dale.
Answered Feb. 13
I think visitors to websites should contribute some to the designers. You can pay by checking banner ads. You can contribute by purchasing. Or you can mine. Sometimes I voluntarily mine just to check my hash rate. I think it’s ridiculous that people complain about mining script to an extent.
Some mining script uses all the GPU and CPU power, so it takes 5 minutes to navigate each page. That is unethical. Installing hidden mining script on a government page is questionable.
Installing mining script on your own site that maximizes out at 70% CPU power and discussing it in micro-fine print should be fine. It’s not going to wear out your computer.
Answered Feb. 13
Yes, absolutely, it is totally unethical to spin the CPU or GPU unnecessarily for your own benefit and cause detriment to the performance and battery life of users’ machines.
Any software that does this, with the exception of explicit mining software that benefits the user, must be considered malware and should be banned everywhere.
I’m glad to help arrange class action lawsuits against any company doing this, and submitting their software signatures to anti-virus and anti-malware companies.
Answered Feb. 14
Hell, yes, it’s unethical!
Unethical is, according to vocabulary.com, “not conforming to approved standards of social or professional behavior”. Taking over your browser and not informing the user of such is not socially acceptable AND it’s unprofessional, in my opinion.
Here’s the simplest litmus test: if you have to hide it, you’re probably up to no good.
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