[Air-l] internet research and confidentiality

Mark D. Johns johnsmar at luther.edu
Tue Dec 21 10:40:15 PST 2004


At 11:48 AM 12/21/2004, you wrote:
>We had this issue a while ago on this list, and I just want to repeat my view:
>
>Blogging, Webpublishing and Usenet posting are demonstrably public 
>activities. Unless you render the concept of "private" so ambigious that 
>it becomes virtually unusable, this is an empirical fact, not a normative 
>statement.
>
>Therefore, publishing research on these kinds of communications does not 
>violate any privacy/confidentialty laws. At least that is the case for 
>most countries that guarantee some freedom of speech rights.
>
>While I have no idea about the bylaws of specific universities or 
>professional associations, I would strongly caution against regulations 
>that curtail the rights of academics vis-a-vis non-affiliated citizens or 
>even journalists.
>
>Of course, some exceptions with respect to vulnerable persons apply, but 
>by and large vulnerable persons do not do blogging.
>
>BTW, you are not doing (experimental) research on human subjects, but on 
>communications.
>
>Thomas

That is your view, it is a common one, and you are entitled to it. However, 
there are other views that are equally valid. If you read the guidelines 
you would understand that they are simply that, not regulations. But, like 
it or not, some regulations, created not by AoIR but by various governments 
and institutions, do apply. What is legal in one jurisdiction is not always 
legal in another. What is legal is not always ethical. And what is legal 
and ethical is not always approved by an IRB. I'm simply pointing out -- as 
is AoIR in adopting the guidelines -- that this is not a simple, "one size 
fits all" issue. Much depends on the researcher, the nature of the 
research, where the institution happens to be located, and the views of the 
individual IRB. The guidelines are intended to help researchers like Oriana 
sort it all out.

------
Mark D. Johns, Ph.D.
Asst. Professor of Communication/Linguistics,
Luther College, Decorah, Iowa
http://faculty.luther.edu/~johnsmar/
-----------------------------------------------
"Get the facts first. You can distort them later."
     ---Mark Twain  




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