ABSTRACT
Trespassing is against the law, but it is not necessarily unethical, depending upon the intention behind it. Recreational trespassing has emerged in recent times as a reflection of people’s fascination with what is off limits to some and not to others, and while it is obviously illegal, such trespassing also raises important ethical issues. It is one thing when trespassers destroy property and that cannot be allowed, but quite another when people trespass in order to protect and preserve something that has been neglected or to share the experience with others via an open-source visual record. What this suggests is that, especially with public property, spaces be made available to the public in limited and controlled ways, which might be the best way to end recreational trespassing.
