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The Evolving Nature of Social Network Research: A Commentary to Gleibs (2014)
Author(s) -
Dumas Guillaume,
Serfass David G.,
Brown Nicolas A.,
Sherman Ryne A.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
analyses of social issues and public policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.479
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1530-2415
pISSN - 1529-7489
DOI - 10.1111/asap.12055
Subject(s) - personally identifiable information , internet privacy , information privacy , ethical issues , social responsibility , public relations , private information retrieval , business , political science , engineering ethics , sociology , psychology , computer science , computer security , law , engineering
Social networking sites (SNSs) provide researchers with an unprecedented amount of user derived personal information. This wealth of information can be invaluable for research purposes. However, the privacy of the SNS user must be protected from both public and private researchers. New research capabilities raise new ethical concerns. We argue that past research regulation has largely been in reaction to questionable research practices, and therefore new innovations need to be regulated before SNS users’ privacy is irreparably compromised. It is the responsibility of the academic community to start this ethical discourse.