ABSTRACT
Blogs, chats, discussion forums, networking sites, game sites, mutual interest groups, and massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) present a rich panorama of different types of human interaction, varied “ground rules” in access, privacy, and use, and a challenge for those seeking to impose a denitive set of ethical tenets for those involved. As difcult as it seems for lawyers and ethicists to address guidance (not really surprising, since their focus is steeped in traditional authority, from times before the Internet), it is strange that those studying the Internet in depth have yet to be consulted for the guidance necessary. If we wait for the lawyers, how much risk will be absorbed by enterprises unable to react in “Internet time”? Authorized use and privacy policies of the Web
sites themselves provide a starting point and are only now being used to enforce requirements for users, over seventeen years after the explosion of the use of the Internet. At this time, it is especially important to understand the medium and adopt a practical policy for addressing the legal and ethical issues without waiting for uninitiated legalists to reach nal conclusions. We should start with the standards that exist.
