Yay! This ounds like fun, Michelle. I'm excited that my friends are returning to (some form of) blogging. I've been going through my music of the year and trying to decide how I want to share.

sad panda is sadder without Brightkite : (

We get it, Jason.

I'd agree, there are no official online rules. And considering the medium, it's too late to create them and expect adherence. It boils down to a user's interpretation and respect of what "privacy" means on each service. This is why the "ask permission" aspect of following a protected Twitter account breaks down.

I can rant about how unfair this is until I'm blue in the face. But it doesn't stop the person next to me from repeating, remixing and reinterpreting what I said or did.

People use "private" and copyrighted Flickr photos all the time. And the number of Facebook horror stories seems to grow daily (due to, perhaps, a sense of privacy many feel when using that service).

We are rapidly approaching a point where if you don't want something reproduced, you shouldn't produce it. And this isn't only relegated to online activity.

The explosion of social media communication is keeping technology on its toes with regards to privacy. Like you Tiffany, my biggest reason for having a protected Twitter account is Google. And frankly, I wish all social networks would block search bots from crawling member information. Or at least give users the option not to have their info crawled.

Vicki's confusion over private accounts is one I hear often. But a blog and Twitter are not the same tool. It makes perfect sense to me that a different tool has different uses.

@misterjt Your last paragraph contains the magic question. It's not so different a struggle that artists of every genre are having with their work. And while I wouldn't equate any of my "tweets" as art, they are content I create. Is it not reasonable to think I "own" them in some respect? Where is the line of "fair use" and who decides?

I often post screenshots of my favorite tweets and I always obscure the usernames of those who are private. But is that enough? Should I not post them at all? I'm pretty sure I'm not as diligent with retweets. It's a head scratcher for sure.