Is open source intelligence an ethical issue?

This chapter configures resources from the fields of communication studies, intelligence ethics, and organization studies in order to explore whether the collection and analysis of open source information and subsequent production of open source intelligence constitute an ethical issue. Using an “ethics as practice” perspective, the author finds that tensions surrounding open source collection vis-à-vis U.S. Persons and the “outsourcing” of open source activities among commercial firms create ethical dilemmas and the space for moral agency.