[Air-L] IRB Exemption and Terms of Service - Reddit.com
Dan L. Burk
dburk at uci.edu
Fri Oct 26 17:10:36 PDT 2012
Hi Charles --
I'm glad to hear that you are talking with legal services and with your
IRB about your project.
One of the issues you should discuss with the university counsel is that
copyright does not extend to *facts* -- consequently many kinds of
research data aren't subject to copyright at all. For example, in your
list below, I doubt very much that numerical data such as the number of
replies or the number of upvotes or downvotes could be said to constitute
copyrightable subject matter.
Some other items, such as the content of the post, probably are subject to
copyright, and that is where you will want to focus in your discussion
with the university counsel.
Best of success with your project, DLB
> Hello everyone,
>
> Thank you so much for all the help. This is going to be astronomically
> helpful to me. I am currently scheduling an appointment with my
> university's legal services and my university's IRB to sort this further
> out. I will be sure to negotiate something out of this.
>
> I am located in the US, and am currently going to Rutgers University. I
> apologize for not mentioning it in my first e-mail. The information that I
> am specifically gathering includes:
>
> Username who posted (recoded into a number for anonymity)
> Total Karma for post
> Number of Upvotes and Downvotes received
> Number of Replies
> Who the post replied to
> The highest post in a reply hierarchy
> Content of post (if they are a celebrity)
> Whether the post is posted by the topic creator
> If the post is the topic post, the topic post’s content, and the
> topic’s title
>
> Further, these data will be collected for each person listed as a
> “celebrity:” A celebrity is determined by those who receive at least 50
> upvotes or downvotes
>
> Total Karma
> Total Karma for that day (Link and Comment)
> Total Upvotes and Downvotes for that day
> Total posts during the day
> Number of replies received during the day
>
> Does he nature of the information that I'm gathering violate the Copyright
> Act? Please let me know if any more information is needed.
>
> Once again, thank you very much much for helping me with this project.
>
> Best Regards,
> Charles Tong
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 25, 2012 at 7:11 PM, Dan L. Burk <dburk at uci.edu> wrote:
>
>> Er -- since we don't know what jurisdiction Charles is in, we can't say
>> whether fair use applies to him or not (or, for that matter, how
>> enforceable the Reddit ToS is against him).
>>
>> It sounds like he might be located in the U.S. but that's a guess.
>>
>> I also don't think we know enough about his research to say very much
>> about copyright/fair use. There are a lot of moving parts there. Just
>> as
>> an example, it's not clear to me from his post what kind of data he is
>> gathering -- but the copyright in the "influential posts" he wants to
>> analyze may very well lie with the authors, not with Reddit.
>>
>> (In which case, if his IRB wants informed consent from the participants,
>> he might end up with their authorization to copy the material as well.)
>>
>> DLB
>>
>>
>> > Charles,
>> >
>> > You've got two separate issues here: copyright and IRB.
>> >
>> > According to my understanding you should be able to use the data
>> you're
>> > collecting under the Fair Use clause. The TOS you copied below
>> > specifically mentions commercial or unauthorized uses under copyright.
>> The
>> > Fair Use clause states: "...the fair use of a copyrighted work,
>> including
>> > such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other
>> means
>> > specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment,
>> news
>> > reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use),
>> > scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright." You
>> need
>> > to understand though that fair use is not a right, it's a "defensible
>> > position", meaning that it is an acceptable defense in any legal
>> action;
>> > however, you would have to prove that your use of the material falls
>> under
>> > the fair use clause in a courtroom if the company decides to challenge
>> > your use of their data--it doesn't automatically negate the
>> possibility
>> of
>> > legal action.
>> >
>> > There are a couple of things I'd suggest. First, you need to find out
>> what
>> > your advisor will approve. They are directing your thesis and you need
>> to
>> > make sure any data you use meets with their approval. Second, most
>> > university legal departments have some statement about what
>> constitutes
>> > fair use on their campus, so I'd check with them (but I'd say only if
>> your
>> > advisor requires it--many universities actually have much stricter
>> > policies on paper than are required under the Fair Use clause). Third,
>> I'd
>> > look at the Ethics Guide from AOIR
>> > (http://aoir.org/documents/ethics-guide/) and make sure you're working
>> > within those guidelines. They've been developed by scholars who
>> regularly
>> > work with the type of data you're using, so you should make sure your
>> > study works within those guidelines.
>> >
>> > Regarding IRB, I agree with Charles. You should contact your
>> university
>> > IRB and find out what requirements they may have for exempt or
>> non-exempt
>> > status. Often departments or colleges within universities will have an
>> IRB
>> > specialist that you can work with and who will help you fill out the
>> > appropriate applications.
>> >
>> > Good luck,
>> > Kathie
>> >
>> >
>> > On Oct 25, 2012, at 3:22 PM, Charles Tong wrote:
>> >
>> >> Hello AoIR,
>> >>
>> >> My name is Charles Tong and I currently working on my undergraduate
>> >> thesis in Sociology. Specifically, I am trying to construct a social
>> >> network based on reddit.com by data-mining posts and comments from
>> day
>> >> to day. I am specifically looking to identify how consistent
>> influence
>> >> and power is created on the website. I hope to do this by
>> constructing
>> >> multiple networks from day to day of specific sub-forums and
>> >> differentiating between those who are one-time stars and consistent
>> >> stars. Then I will perform a content analysis of certain influential
>> >> posts to determine what makes someone consistently powerful or not
>> and
>> >> in what ways they are influential.
>> >>
>> >> Unfortunately, I am unsure of how this will pass under IRB exemption.
>> >> I am hoping that anyone on the AoIR mailing list may have some
>> insight
>> >> that may help. I have attempted to e-mail and get in contact with the
>> >> website numerous times, but each time, they have not responded. I
>> >> understand that I will have to send reddit.com’s user agreement.
>> >>
>> >> The user agreement states the following:
>> >> “You may not in any way make commercial or other unauthorized use, by
>> >> publication, re-transmission, distribution, performance, caching, or
>> >> otherwise, of material obtained through the Website, including
>> without
>> >> limitation the Assets or Website Content, except as permitted by the
>> >> Copyright Act or other law or as expressly permitted in writing by
>> >> this Agreement, Service Provider or the Website.”
>> >>
>> >> I was wondering if anyone knows how to approach this specific issue.
>> I
>> >> understand that Fair Use might permit this research under the
>> >> Copyright Act, but I am not sure of its nature.
>> >>
>> >> Thank you very much in advance for your help. Let me know if any
>> >> additional information should be provided.
>> >>
>> >> Best Regards,
>> >> Charles Tong
>> >> _______________________________________________
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>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>> --
>> School of Law
>> University of California, Irvine
>> 4500 Berkeley Place
>> Irvine, CA 92697-8000
>> Voice: (949) 824-9325
>> Fax: (949)824-7336
>> bits: dburk at uci.edu
>>
>>
>
--
School of Law
University of California, Irvine
4500 Berkeley Place
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
Voice: (949) 824-9325
Fax: (949)824-7336
bits: dburk at uci.edu
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