I agree with Eero about keeping life simple. But I also think that what looks simple is often, in fact, an elegant manifestation of deep consideration about complex issues! There are clearly power issues involved in recording people's interactions, be they private or public. And this discussion has reminded me of one of them - Foucault's metaphor of the panoptican. (In case someone doesn't know the image, the panoptican is a circular building with a guard tower in the middle and the prisoner's cells arranged round the outside. With this design guards can always be observing the prisoners without being seen. As the prisoner is never sure when he's being observed, he becomes his own guardian. Whereas in the past we needed monarchies to control "the people", we now live in times where people never know if and when they are being observed (or for what purposes) so people start subconsciously policing themselves.) Observing and recording people's interactions for research purposes without their permission conjures up images for me of a prison guard in a panoptican; a guard regardless of whether "the prisoner" is talking loudly or softly on their mobile phone, or writing in public discussion forums. I don't see ethical guidelines as being only specific to the people involved in a piece of research that I'm carrying out. I see the guidelines as part of my own personal manifesto that says that I won't be part of any process that could be contributing to an increasingly panoptical system of coercion and which could be contributing to people becoming the principle of their own subjection. (Foucault, 1979) So for me, ethical guidelines are a way of taking and showing a position on power relations; the power relations between me and my informants and also power relations in broader societal (and political) terms. I may not agree with or understand everything in the guidelines, but will align myself to the principles behind them while I negotiate the changes. Cheers Beverly Ref: Foucault, M (1979) Discipline and punish: the birth of the prison. New York:Vintage Escola Superior de Ciências Empresariais Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal Estefanilha 2914-503 Setúbal Portugal http://btrayner.info Tel: +351 265 709357 (t) +351 265 571425 (c) T/m: 968953247 Fax: +351 265 709301