Dear Colleagues and AoIR's friends, This discussion has an interesting value for the AoIR international community as well. What I mean is that in the majority of countries public texts like blogs can be analyzed without asking any permission. This is valid for several European, Asian, African and South American nations, and in the US, under the conditions others have mentioned. Nevertheless, many of us tend to contact the bloggers, declare our research intents, protect contributes ‘anonymity in public contexts, use pseudonymous, etc . What does this current praxis tell us? Are there different praxis in the international community of internet researchers? Should we take a case by case approach? What I mean is, for example: would our praxis change in case the bog is run by an individual or a commercial company trying to do a “viral marketing” operation, and promote musical groups among prospect consumers visiting the blog? My main research interests are in the field of health care , museum and art . Like in the majority of countries we do not need to ask for formal permissions, but I tend to have a "cautious approach", declare my research intentions, etc. In the case of Thomas' students more details about the research aims and design should clarify the issue. If it is the case of a simple "text analysis" of a public blog, I would declare my intentions. If something else is involved and relates to sensible data disclosed in the blog, I would take a more cautious approach. In my experience, it is pretty sad to observe disinhibit unregulated behaviors from business oriented companies that hire freelance "bloggers" and social media "promoters" carrying on viral marketing campaigns, particularly when unaware people are dealing with serious illnesses and search for mutual support and info online. Monica -------------------- Monica Murero , Ph.D. AoIR Exec, 2003-2009; AoIR Treasurer, 2005-2009 AoIR Lifetime Member Director E-Life International Institute Associate Professor in Politics of e-Government and in Sociology of New Technology University Federico II, Italy Consultant, World Health Organization http://it.linkedin.com/pub/monica-murero-ph-d/16/52/606