Allow users to choose whether their comment is publically viewable or only viewable to node author

Issue Summary

First thing's first, what are the plans for this module in D7?

I am trying to create a "contact author" system using node comments. Basically, I like to give the commenter the ability to select whether their comment can be viewed publicly or restricted to only the node author. The author should also have the right to change the permission and display it.

I would like it to work similarly to eBay's ask seller question system where the user can's ask the seller a question privately, but if the question is a frequent question or a useful question, the seller can opt to display the question on the node. Ideally the user's personal information will be stripped out for privacy.

I have started a similar thread on the Privatemsg issue queue http://drupal.org/node/1136624, there they recommended using comments for the time being. Issues were also started on the UberCart Marketplace issue queue, the module I would use this feature with (Product class) http://drupal.org/node/1137018

Cheers