> Deliberately depriving people of information is not ethical.
Misleading people is unethical. Providing incomplete information is misleading.
80% of Americans say they want labels on food warning if they contain DNA[0]. Not because people fear DNA, but because when you ask, that signals that DNA is potentially bad. Actually providing such a label is also a signal that DNA is bad.
Labeling food with "Warning: contains DNA" is unethical because it misleads people into thinking that's bad.
Adding a label saying "DNA-free" is unethical because it's false, unless you're selling salt. (And probably also misleading: https://xkcd.com/641/ )
But failing to provide such a label? Not misleading, and not unethical.
If someone asks "does X phone home, does Y contain DNA", you should answer honestly, but you should probably also provide explain the pros/cons. Granted, unless you planted the idea in their heads, that's not your responsibility, but if you publish an article saying "Food X contains DNA!" or "Plugin Y phones home!" you _are_ responsible for the resulting fear, and should qualify the information with an honest evaluation of what that means.
Did you know that dihydrogen monoxide was responsible for at least 368,000 deaths[1] worldwide in 2013? In the USA it's the second leading cause of death for children under 12 years old. Surely you'd want to know if a product had dihydrogen monoxide in it.
Misleading people is unethical. Providing incomplete information is misleading.
80% of Americans say they want labels on food warning if they contain DNA[0]. Not because people fear DNA, but because when you ask, that signals that DNA is potentially bad. Actually providing such a label is also a signal that DNA is bad.
Labeling food with "Warning: contains DNA" is unethical because it misleads people into thinking that's bad.
Adding a label saying "DNA-free" is unethical because it's false, unless you're selling salt. (And probably also misleading: https://xkcd.com/641/ )
But failing to provide such a label? Not misleading, and not unethical.
If someone asks "does X phone home, does Y contain DNA", you should answer honestly, but you should probably also provide explain the pros/cons. Granted, unless you planted the idea in their heads, that's not your responsibility, but if you publish an article saying "Food X contains DNA!" or "Plugin Y phones home!" you _are_ responsible for the resulting fear, and should qualify the information with an honest evaluation of what that means.
[0] http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015...