Posted by okydoky on December 18, 2009, at 14:26:50
In reply to confused some :(, posted by muffled on December 18, 2009, at 13:00:36
There are so many questions being asked on admin where no one seems to take into account the entire reason why this site was developed.
If you google "ethics of online research" you will find more articles. I was looking specifically for legislation regarding privacy issues of online research, regarding another thread on admin, but only found ones about privacy online regarding medical issues but nothing specific to research. What I find perplexing is in FAQ it states:
In Copywrite:
"You may therefore submit a message only if you agree to allow me unrestricted use of it. Submitting a message constitutes acceptance of that condition. But you retain the copyright."
This confuses me!
"explicit informed consent"
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/consent.html"This site is not currently considered research. Still, Dr. Bob may publish case studies on his web site or in a book or an academic journal. If he does, he may include example posts. He would do his best to leave out any identifying information in the posts."
It is stated after the consent was given. Is this legal (probably as it would be incomprehensible to me that Bob would not have made sure of this).
What is Legal is not of necessity Ethical.
This particular part puzzles me. It is ethically unclear to me what is currently going on because of the statement:
" "What you say may conceivably be used against you. Submitting a message gives me permission to use it as I wish."
But I do not pretend to be well informed on such matters.Research in many instances can and has been of great value for people with different health issues, saved lives.
One has to always question when doing research online or not if the "mean justifies the end" or do I have if backward "the end justifying the means"?
In this case the potential benefit for the members versus their privacy and probably other issues also.
We are being used. Is it worth it? Especially sine the research is not longer. Is it or does it have the potential to harm us?(recent talk of using Twitter etc.)
I will not expound more you have read that article. It is only one of many.
Perhaps Bob is more altruistic than I am giving him credit for? I don't see it from my reading of the site. But that is my opinion and you might not feel the same, so maybe you need not feel bad at all.
oky
poster:okydoky
thread:925098
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20091103/msgs/929838.html