List mining
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List mining can be defined as the use, for purposes of scientific research, of messages sent to Internet-based electronic mailing lists. List mining raises novel issues in Internet research ethics. These ethical issues are especially important for health related lists. Some questions that need to be considered by a Research Ethics Committee (or an Institutional Review Board) when reviewing research proposals that involve list mining include these:
Should those participants in a health related electronic mailing list who were the original sources of messages sent to such lists be regarded as "research subjects"? If so, then several ethical issues need to be considered. These include those pertaining to privacy, informed consent, whether the research is intrusive and has potential for harm, and whether the list should be perceived as "private" or "public" space.
Are participants in mailing lists "published authors"?
Should those who were the sources of messages sent to such lists be regarded as "published authors"? Or, perhaps, as "amateur authors"? If so, there are issues of copyright and proper attribution to be considered if messages sent to such lists are cited verbatim. Even short excerpts from such messages raise such issues.