The document discusses several topics related to ethics in internet research. It begins by discussing how internet research allows for a global reach but also comes with great responsibility. It notes that while the internet can enable medical advances and learning, it can also enable harmful activities like terrorism. The document then discusses how institutional review boards need specific guidelines for internet research to maintain integrity. It also examines advantages and disadvantages of internet research, such as lower costs but lack of control over settings. Finally, it discusses how ethics must be considered as internet research grows given differing privacy standards globally.

1. Respond to these two classmates’ posts.
1. After reading this journal article regarding
ethics of internet research, I have discovered different
viewpoints of research and determined some ethical concerns.
As this type of “web-based” research grows, researchers will
face ethical concerns that are different from traditional research
ethical issues, (Denissen, Neumann & Van Zalk, 2010)
The main attribute of internet research, as I see it, is the ability
to have a global footprint; meaning almost any one that has a
computer and connectivity can access all types of information
and data. Along with this power, comes great responsibility.
The web can be a wonderful tool which can afford individuals,
organizations, communities, and others tremendous access into
good and bad places. This access can afford humans into
medical breakthroughs, how to guides on repairs and building,
how to get from city to city, and a multitude of positive ways to
learn and grow.
Internet research use is growing at a fast pace and consequently,
is creating ethical dilemmas.
At the same time, it can be a way to link terrorists’
organizations, promote child pornography etc. As you can see,
internet research can be used for the greater good, or to our
detriment.
This is where the ethics comes into play, and guidelines are set
up to monitor ethical issues which occur due to this process.
Institutional Review Boards at institutions conducting this type
of
research
need specific guidelines for researchers to follow in order to
maintain the integrity of

2. research.
(Williams) 2012)
Denissen, J. J. A., Neumann, L. & van Zalk, M. (2010). How the
internet is changing the implementation of
traditional research methods, people’s daily lives, and the way
in which developmental scientists conduct
research.
International Journal of Behavioral Development, 34,
564-575. DOI: 10.1177/0165025410383746.
Williams, S. G. (2012). The Ethics of Internet Research.
Online Journal Of Nursing Informatics
,
16
(2), 38-48.
2.
With the rapid increase of technology has come tremendous
opportunity. Information is more easily accessible than ever
before, which also creates ethical concerns. This week’s lecture
describes research that is ethical as one “that the researchers are
protecting the privacy of the participants and any research data
collected about them.” The journal article, “The Ethics of
Internet Research” examines internet research and the ethical
issues that arise.
The advantages of internet research over traditional
methods are that it is less costly, less of a time commitment,
more controlled by the researcher, higher accuracy in data
collection, and the ability to easily provide follow up and
feedback (Williams, 2012). In a lot of aspects, internet research
can be more efficient and less costly. However, there are many
disadvantages that the article addresses on internet research.
One is lack of control over the test setting (Williams, 2012). It
is difficult to verify if the subject is in fact who they say they
are. There are also ethical concerns about the data trail that is

3. left behind (Williams, 2012). Personal information could end up
being used in a public forum when the study is complete.
The article concludes with strategies on how to address
particular ethical concerns. One significant challenge is that
research that is global has different privacy and freedom values
from country to country (Williams, 2012). The Association of
Internet Research (AOIR) offers guidelines on ethics in internet
research (Williams, 2012). As internet research continues to
grow, ethical considerations must be investigated in order for
the research to carry the same weight as traditional methods.
Reference
Williams, S. G. (2012).
The ethics of internet research
.
Online
Journal of Nursing Informatics, 16
(2). Retrieved from
http://ojni.org/issues/?p=1708
3.
Google’s business model includes state-of-the art research. Pick
a research study that Google’s researchers have done from their
list of Research Areas & Publication. What do you think about
this research? Find details about related research to support
your argument.
The article I chose was from the data mining category. It was
titled, YouTube Around the World: Geographic Popularity of
Videos. One of the most popular past time, in which we use the
internet for, is watching videos. The internet has given us
access to websites such as YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix which
all stream videos. This article found that 50% of videos have
more than 70% of their views in one region. The interesting
thing that was found by this study was that as videos on
YouTube gain more popularity, meaning “when the fraction of

4. socially-generated views grows larger than 20% the videos
experience a more focused popularity in fewer regions”
(Brodersen, Scellato, & Wattenhofer, 2012). Video views will
grow in one area to a point where they then spread to others,
until the popularity dies and then it will return to the focus
location. There is strong evidence that supports the claim that
videos receive most of their views from one region. The study
showed where 40% of all videos receive 80% of their views
from one region.
After reading the evidence and all the information this study
provided I would have to agree. I makes perfect since really,
when we stop to think about it. There are many factors that
would cause this segregation, items like; culture, language, or
even interests. Videos in Korean are not likely to become viral
in countries with none Korean speaking individuals. Though one
video did defeat these odds, and even though Psi is speaking
Korean his music video went viral everywhere. In fact his dance
and song have been featured in movies and commercials.
The highest number of videos are linked from North America
followed by Europe, Asia & Oceania, and South America. The
most popular videos are music,
equaling
30.7% of all the videos on YouTube. The next closest is
entertainment at 14.59%. Age plays an important role in what
people watch on YouTube as well. Those over 60 watch more
news related videos than any other age group (Sysomos, 2010).
Reference
Anders Brodersen, Salvatore Scellato,
Mirjam Wattenhofer
. (2012). Proceedings of the 21st international conference on
World Wide Web, ACM, New York, NY, 241-250
Sysomos. (2010). Inside YouTube Video. Retrieved from
http://www.sysomos.com/reports/youtube/
4.
Chosen research study and article

5. For this discussion, I have chosen Security, Cryptography, and
Privacy from Google’s research study. The article is “Security
issues on cloud computing” by Dawn Song, Elaine Shi, Ian
Fischer, and Umesh Shankar.
Thoughts about the research
The research presented aspects of cloud computing in regard to
security concerns versus the advantages. “Although cloud
computing promises lower costs, rapid scaling, easier
maintenance, and service availability anywhere, anytime, a key
challenge is how to ensure and build confidence that the cloud
can handle user data securely” (Song, Shi, Fischer, & Shankar,
2012, p. 39). My thoughts about this subject are perhaps a bit
“old school” in that trusting information to anyone but you is
risky. My thoughts about the research, and the article itself, are
that the authors explained the subject in great detail and
provided data that displayed how the public and business
community views a potential threat. “A recent Microsoft survey
found that “58 percent of the public and 86 percent of business
leaders are excited about the possibilities of cloud computing.
But more than 90 percent of them are worried about security,
availability, and privacy of their data as it rests in the cloud”
(Song, Shi, Fischer, & Shankar, 2012, p. 39). I believe that
providing data in the research design allows the reader to
“visually picture” the subject.
Related research
I was able to find similar research on the subject in the form of
an article titled “Security issues on cloud computing” by Harit
Shah, Sharma Shankar Anandane, and Shrikanth (no first name
listed). This article displayed research on the risks of security
and privacy in the cloud computing arena. “Many experts in
government and commerce still consider the greatest barrier to
adoption of cloud services to be concerns about information
security and privacy” (Shah, Anandane, & Shrikanth, 2013, p.
29). With the threat of breaching the security barriers of a cloud
site a real possibility, this is a great topic for research.
References

6. Shah, H., Anandane, S. S., & Shrikanth. (2013). Security issues
on cloud computing.
International Journal of Computer Science and Information
Security
, 11(8), 25-34. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1467725412?accountid=325
21
Song, D., Shi, E., Fischer, I., Shankar, U. (2012). Cloud data
protection for the masses.
Computer
, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 39-45. Retrieved from
http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.com/
en/us/pubs/archive/37672.pdf