Ethical conduct in digital research is full of grey areas. Disciplinary, institutional and individual norms and conventions developed to support research are challenged, often leaving scholars with a sense of unease or lack of clarity. The growing availability of hacked data is one area. Discussions and debates around the use of these datasets in research are extremely limited. Reviews of the history, culture, or morality of the act of hacking are topics that have attracted some scholarly attention. However, how to undertake research with this data is less examined and provides an opportunity for the generation of reflexive ethical practice. This article presents a case-study outlining the ethical debates that arose when considering the use of hacked data to examine online far-right violent extremism. It argues that under certain circumstances, researchers can do ethical research with hacked data. However, to do so we must proactively and continually engage deeply with ethical quandaries and dilemmas.

翻译：数字研究中的伦理行为充满灰色地带。为支持研究而制定的学科、机构和个人规范与惯例常受到挑战，使学者感到不安或缺乏明确指引。黑客数据的日益可得性正是此类领域之一。围绕在研究中如何使用这些数据集的讨论和辩论极为有限。对黑客行为的历史、文化或道德层面的回顾已吸引部分学术关注，但如何利用此类数据开展研究却较少被探讨，这为生成反思性伦理实践提供了契机。本文通过案例研究，阐述了在考虑使用黑客数据研究网络极右翼暴力极端主义时引发的伦理争议。文章主张，在特定条件下，研究者能够以符合伦理的方式利用黑客数据进行研究，但为此我们必须主动且持续地深入应对伦理上的两难困境。