I looked at musician's myspace sites, and my ethics committee decided that if my research outcomes were like "82% of sites have sound files while only 46% have gig guides" then ethics clearance was not necessary - there was no intervention in the lives of the musicians. But if I wanted to say "Thirsty Merc says '....' on their MySpace site" then there was a potential for impact and I needed permissions and ethics clearance. I guess if Thirsty Merc got all wound up about what I said about them, I'd like the institution's backing when we got to court. Marj Dr Marjorie Kibby, Senior Lecturer in Communication & Culture Faculty of Education and Arts The University of Newcastle, Callaghan NSW 2308 Australia Marj.Kibby@newcastle.edu.au +61 2 49216604