I'm mostly in agreement with everything you are saying, except I'm not sure these things are actually immediately relevant for the discussion with which you started (I know it was just a way to get you started, but it *was* the way you started!).
Academic researchers have to consider worst case scenarios, and for every 99 fans who are password protecting because of the platform, who ultimately are totally OK with having their work seen or shared, there may be one fan who isn't. And it's for that one fan that academics should be careful, I'd argue. I know that journalists aren't, Orlando Jones isn't, and some academics don't care, but I am actually glad so many do care.
So, as a counter link, here's the Association of Internet Researchers' Ethics Guide (I really like their revised version, which puts a lot of decision making into the researchers' hands while acknowledging that harm can happen where we're not expecting it)
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2014-03-13 12:08 am (UTC)Academic researchers have to consider worst case scenarios, and for every 99 fans who are password protecting because of the platform, who ultimately are totally OK with having their work seen or shared, there may be one fan who isn't. And it's for that one fan that academics should be careful, I'd argue. I know that journalists aren't, Orlando Jones isn't, and some academics don't care, but I am actually glad so many do care.
So, as a counter link, here's the Association of Internet Researchers' Ethics Guide (I really like their revised version, which puts a lot of decision making into the researchers' hands while acknowledging that harm can happen where we're not expecting it)