In a recent discussion, an Aussie colleague said: "On the whole, with the exception of legal writers arguing about whether such control is good or bad, academics seem to have steered away from the issues involved of how these things actually work. I'm not for example able, at this moment, to do more than posit that things are less controlled than they used to be (most of the complaints seem to arise between 1994 and 1997), however this may not be the case." I really wondered about "steering away" which really says "deliberately avoids" (you have to actively "steer"). It actually sounds as a hot and researchable topic -- see sociological-ish journal _Surveillance and Society_. I really think this -- and many similar -- case is a situation of so many things worth studying and not enough time or people to study them. So not steering away, just not getting around to do. Having just come over 2 years prep and 6 weeks writing our first big Connected Lives paper, I am wearily aware of the gap between bright idea and reasonable paper. Barry _____________________________________________________________________ Barry Wellman Professor of Sociology NetLab Director wellman at chass.utoronto.ca http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 fax:+1-416-978-7162 To network is to live; to live is to network _____________________________________________________________________