Blogs and ethics
Stephanie Nilsson, a student in Umeå, has started a blog as a part of a research project. One of the first things she does is to raise a question about blogs and if they are public or private domain (post from april 1st - permalinks are broken). She also asked this question in an email for me.

My stance on this is that blogs belong to the public domain. They have been made public, and you as the writer and editor have full responsibility for what you write there. You can be quoted, but you should be properly cited when your thoughts and ideas are taken from your blog. Which means that having published something in your blog, you have actually published it, and can claim ownership to your ideas.

Something similar goes for letters and emails, by the way: once you have sent a letter or an email, it's no longer your property. It belongs to the other person, who can choose to make it public or keep it private, you have no more exclusive rights of your words once they have been sent or published.

Good luck with your work, Stephanie!