NEW YORK, NY Jan 19 (DPI) – Even a moralizing columnist couldn’t resist the temptation to look – while telling everyone else to look away.

In a column yesterday New York Times technology editor Kara Swisher pointed out that it’s terrible that the world is interested in people’s private messages – including those of the rich and powerful – and we should not only respect privacy but have more laws protecting privacy. We should all be ashamed, and Swisher admits that she is, she writes.

In the same breath – or at least for several paragraphs – Swisher repeats all the private texts that the married Amazon founder Jeff Bezos sent to his girlfriend, private messages that The National Inquirer had already published.

And – not surprisingly – the reader comments attached to Swisher’s column were withering. The most popular comments:

If you honestly don’t think that Jeff Bezos’ tweets should have been released into the world, you shouldn’t have included them in your article.

It is ironic that you quote the texts that he tweeted while at the same time admonishing the rest of us for “looking”. I was not aware of what he texted until i read your column. So thank you for exposing his privacy, i suppose ? Try staying silent the next time you truly wish silence is the best way to go.

“We still haven’t gotten over it, and even in this advanced time of always-on, I’m not sure we should. The sweet nothings that Mr. Bezos was sending to one person should not have turned into tweets for the entire world to see and, worse, that most everyone assumed were O.K. to see.” Ironically, reading this article was the first time I became aware of these tweets. So it’s not OK for the entire world to see, unless you need an idea for your column?

It’s sad that this is reported in the NYT for me and everyone else to read. I found bezos’s messages sweet and humanizing.