  The particular characteristics associated with qualitative longitudinal
research in the disciplines of psychology and social science have prompted the
development of informed consent. There are analogies between these
characteristics and the collection and analysis of data in online settings. How
and why informed consent has developed in qualitative longitudinal research,
both theoretically and practically, can provide a useful resource for
considering what informed consent means in online settings. Building on this
analogy, criteria are proposed that can be used to provide an ethical judgement
on consent practices in an online data handling activity, and form the basis
for a consent maturity model. It is argued that if we are to learn from from
the history of informed consent in qualitative longitudinal research, then we
should strive for an Ethics of Virtue approach to informed consent online, the
highest level of maturity.
