My answer to any privacy issues is this (I agree with the network being a "public space" regardless of the physical ownership of the underlying networks), if you choose to use software and protocols that don't offer end to end encryption then you void the right to complain about being snooped. There are solutions it is a choice not to use them. In reference to standards about recording data in public/private settings I point you at telecomunication privacy commission code. http://www.privacy.org.nz/telecommunications-information-privacy-code/ Psychologists have been dealing with this issue for a long time, and there are some good transferable ethics approval processes in that discipline for approving collection of data for study. APA being the standard. -JoelW