Just curious - research on the internet

[Linliel]

I've been having a discussion with a colleague about the ethics of researching online forums and whether posts constitute "private" or "public" data. This gets more complex with things like having to register to see, for example, posts on the spam forum here (though anyone can register). Also, how would being seen as a member of the community change things?

My thoughts are that public posts should be mine-able for data, but it's the ones that are register-protected where I'm not sure. Do people have a higher expectation of privacy for posts in, say, Spam, than in General?

What do you guys think?

PS I'm not planning on doing any research on the BG forums, so don't worry.

[Brill Weave]

And THAT is why I have images blocked lmfao. Regularly viewable forums(like General) should be considered as public info imo. If other sections require you to be registered/logged in to see content I would consider that private.

[Chun Liroy]

Forums are not private areas, however, unless your research is on if people turn into assholes on the internet, good luck gleaning anything factual information about a person's opinions from posts on a forum.

[Chun Liroy]

And THAT is why I have images blocked lmfao. Regularly viewable forums(like General) should be considered as public info imo. If other sections require you to be registered/logged in to see content I would consider that private.

The thing is, you're required to log in to see those areas for reasons other than "this information is not for public access."

[Charismatic]

I always hear the sound effect

[Charismatic]

http://www.peterissa.com/media/mk2/L...-orig_128k.mp3

[Linliel]

Very glad I have pictures turned off!

[quannum]

if it's on the internet, it's public.

[Linliel]

if it's on the internet, it's public.

All of it? Even stuff that's password protected?

[Linliel]

The thing is, you're required to log in to see those areas for reasons other than "this information is not for public access."

What are those reasons?

[Linliel]

Forums are not private areas, however, unless your research is on if people turn into assholes on the internet, good luck gleaning anything factual information about a person's opinions from posts on a forum.

Nah, I'm going to be doing research on Tor hidden services, and I'm about the first ethicist to actually do this, so I have to work out a methodology for my research too, since it hasn't been done before.

[quannum]

All of it? Even stuff that's password protected?

there's a difference between "is there privacy on the internet?" and "should there be privacy on the internet?"
my post was an answer to the first. my answer to the second is .. good luck with that

[Shiroikage]

i expect that everything i put up on the internet is as private as anything can possibly be

[The Stig]

As long as it's password protected from its conception then there's no way to get into it (not even google) without someone knowing the password.

I think register protected (images/links/posts) would be considered private from the very public level (google only)
But if you need to register to see, then it's public anyway (those boards just want users/traffic - plus nothing stops you from seeing it)

If it's password protected then I'd consider it private.

EDIT: if you can break into it though, free game, it'll be made public for some reason or another as it's on the "internet"

(i.e. wikileaks)

[Chun Liroy]

What are those reasons?

To protect the owner of the website, legally, I believe. FoD and RIT aren't viewable as a guest and that isn't there to privatize the threads. At least that's what I'm led to believe.

[Chun Liroy]

I agree with the stig. Ethically, PMs are also private, in my opinion.

[The Stig]

PMs are VERY private. However, if an admin on this board really wanted to he can go into the database and view our PMs.

I've done it with a board I built back in 2002. It was dead by 2004, and around 2009 I decided to poke in there to look around and found the "PM store" ... and had a look. Was more curious than up to anything bad. Quite entertaining some of them.

[Linliel]

So, basically, you think it's generally okay to treat as public a forum like spam which you have to register and log in to view?

[The Stig]

At work we set up a vbulletin forum for the client. There are 2 sections to it. 1 is external (people can view, must register to post) and another is absolutely hidden to people unless you're in a specific group.

I would consider the 2nd one to be "private". You could register but you still won't see it unless an approved admin puts the user into that very specific group.

So yeah, public forum requiring registration only is still public. The registration bit is just a mask/unlocked door.

I guess you can tell your colleague that if they wanted it to be private you wouldn't have found the URL at all, or it wouldn't be on the internet at all.

(whether the person who created the site intended it to be public or private is probably irrelevant)

[Omniyoji]

So, basically, you think it's generally okay to treat as public a forum like spam which you have to register and log in to view?

Yes because once the public registers they have complete access to it and anyone can register.