Questions:

• What constitute "benefit" and "harm/risk" in the virtual domain? In Internet research, how can benefits, risks, and harms be assessed?
• How can one assess long-term benefits or harm? How can follow-up be conducted for a study of an online community in which the participants are anonymous or pseudonymous, or when participants are no longer members of the community, or when the community itself no longer exists in cyberspace?
• Are there any special vulnerabilities among prospective subjects that might be relevant to evaluating risk of participation in Internet research?

Questions:

• What are the requirements of informed consent for Internet research? By what mechanisms can it be obtained from virtual communities and from individuals?
• How can informed consent of subjects be authenticated online?
• How should consent be obtained in a community that has variable members, who may be from different cultures, with some participating in the research and some not?
• How should researchers apply the special informed consent requirements for minors in cyberspace?
• How do our traditional understandings of reciprocity and trust between researchers and those they study play out in research on the Internet?
• When is the use of deception permissible in online research?
• How should debriefings be conducted for members of an online community?

Questions:

• How should "reasonable expectation of privacy" be defined in cyberspace?
• What information belongs in the private and public domains in cyberspace? Are lists and chatrooms, for instance, public?
• What, if any, responsibilities do researchers have to protect the online identities of research subjects?
• Are descriptions of rooms and characters quotable without permission, or would these texts be considered part of the character/user?
• What security provisions should be adopted when creating, storing, accessing, or transferring on-line data?

Questions:

• How, if at all, does the Internet, alter our understanding and application of justice in the context of human research?
• Given the wide disparity in usage of the Internet among groups within American society, let alone internationally, how should justice be defined when designing and evaluating social and behavioral research online?
• How can the fruits and burdens of research be distributed so that those at risk in online research are likely to benefit? How can this be achieved when subjects are anonymous or pseudonymous?

Questions:

• In what areas can preliminary recommendations be made?
• What issues merit priority in a research agenda?
• How can further research on these issues be fostered?