In October, William Shields wrote a blog post that I think we need to take seriously.

His view, in a nutshell, is this: Many popular websites that provide free services (such as Stackoverflow) are supported by advertising. These sites cost money to run and administer, and so if users value these sites, they are morally obligated to defray these costs by subjecting themselves to the advertising that the site administrators use to pay for operations (i.e. not to use ad-blocking software).

This is the case, according to Shields, because the advertising is the only form of revenue production for a website that is known to work. So, if sites need money to survive, advertising is the only known way of getting this money, then if you value the site, you should subject yourself to the advertising.

As you can see if you browse the comments, this does not sit well with many people's intuitions about what they are entitled to in using websites.

I am sympathetic to both Shields and to those who decry his argument.

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Way back in November of last year, we noted that economic signs all pointed to a foreseeable future in which designers were going to have to start thinking about ways to do more with less. We noted that "[s]chematically, a more challenging climate for business tends to mean a more challenging climate for design." We also wondered if this was necessarily the case.

If the economic downturn was looming then, it's nearly in full bloom now, and a lot of fine pieces have since been written about its effect on design to come. I thought it might be nice today to do a brief review of the literature which has helped my clarify my answer to our earlier pondering (in the affirmative).

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The Nano is a four-passenger city car built by Tata Motors, aimed primarily at the Indian market. It is the least expensive production car in the world, at about $2000 USD per.

On the one hand, Tata reportedly plans to manufacture the Nano at two plants in India (Pantnagar and Gujarat), no doubt boosting the local economies. Also, neatly,

...the Nano is constructed of components that can be built and shipped separately to be assembled in a variety of locations. In effect, the Nano is being sold in kits that are distributed, assembled, and serviced by local entrepreneurs.

This means that Tato will potentially create entrepreneurial opportunities across India. Finally, given its low price point, the Nano is expected to help fulfill many Indians' dream of a prosperous urban lifestyle.

On the other hand, although the Nano "exceeds current regulatory requirements," in India, it still comes with a dangerously minimal set of safety features. Indeed, a Nano with the standard compliment of features would "not even be considered for approval" as-is in Western markets.

More, the Nano was conceived and designed around introducing the automobile to a sector of the population who are currently using eco-friendly bicycles and motorcycles. Some environmentalists are concerned that its extraordinarily low price might lead to mass motorization in countries like India and therefore possibly aggravate pollution as well as increase the demand for oil.

The Nano provides an nice occasion to evaluate your own design ethical premises. Decide whether you are for or against the Nano. If you can take a position, think about why you take that position. That should tell you something about the kind of ethics you intuitively support, or which values you value the most.