Student Name with Published Photos

[jrma91]

Afternoon All,

 

We are looking at a case what a parent has said that the school can publish the child's photo on the school website and on social media as long as their full name is not published.

 

Can we refuse the parent and say that it is all or nothing. Ie They can allow their child's photo to be published, with the name. Or the child can not have their photo published at all?

 

Any help of this would be helpful.

 

Regards,

 

jrma91

[hardtailstar]

You do as the parent says. They are allowing you to publish photos so you take on board their request of no full name.

 

Im guessing you can publish the first name?

 

If you refuse this over a name then the school is being somewhat silly.

[jrma91]

The issue that we are having is that SLT and the data manager are saying that SIMS is all or nothing, and that we can't be expected to have individual breakdowns for every pupil. I know that SIMS can be adapted to do this, but the SIMS data manager doesn't won't to do the work or adding this extra tick box, or asking parents again for consent about forename/surname in photos.

 

Is there anything in the new legislation that I can point them to to show that if the parent has ask/demanded this then they have to do it?

[enjay]

I think it depends on the specific reasons behind the parent's request. Would they be happy for their child to be named in a large group shot, e.g. here at the rugby team Bill Bloggs, Fred Smith, etc. (but not "from left to right" obviously) or do they not want the child's full name on the website at all? If that is case, do they want the name witholding in all contexts, e.g. should you not even name them in a news article about the rugby match? Is the parent possibly just worried you would post an individual of their child and name, in which case just reassure them you don't do that sort of thing.

 

I think it starts with a conversation with the parent to understand the reasons behind their request but if they remain fixed on not having the full name up in any context - which is entirely their right - I would play it safe and act as if they have refused consent to use the photo.

[elsiegee40]

To be fair on the parent, it’s never been good practice to use a full name with a child’s photo for Safeguarding reasons.

 

The school shouldn’t be doing it by default anyway.

 

On the rare occasions that you actually need to use a full name get specific permission for that.

 

“Josh, Jake, Ellie and Phoebe won the relay race” is normally sufficient for most purposes.

[round2it]

our policy is no full names, first name is fine

 

makes the job easier

[enjay]

“Josh, Jake, Ellie and Phoebe won the relay race” is normally sufficient for most purposes.

 

Agreed, and that is generally what we do here too. There are times we'll put full names but never in such a way you could identify which face is which name, e.g. "Josh Smith and Jake Brown won the race" would be okay but not "Josh Smith and Phoebe Jones". Of course, even first names can be problematic, if for example Phoebe and Aaradhya won the race.

[Edutech98]

 

Is there anything in the new legislation that I can point them to to show that if the parent has ask/demanded this then they have to do it?

 

 

There is Article 25, DP by design and default, which says you should only process data if it is necessary for the specific purpose and you should minimise as much personal data as possible. The parents would probably have a valid argument that the website picture could be done without the child's full name.

 

You may also fall fowl of one of the main principles of processing data (article 5), to process it fairly. It would not be fair to say to the parent that we can publish your child's picture but we must also include their full name, this would likely not be fair processing.

 

Also if you are using consent, then it would be unlikely that you would hit the freshhold of freely given consent, as the school is putting a condition on the processing of the data, such as you must let us publish their full name otherwise we won't publish the pic.

Edited July 6, 2018 by Edutech98

[mthomas08]

If you refuse this over a name then the school is being somewhat silly.

 

No such thing as being silly if you are a bit 'extra' safe with no real loss.

 

It's all about cutting the risk of identifying individuals. Nothing stopping you from posting a first name but it does add a small risk increase of identifying that individual. Also why do you need to? And that is another point to remember 'need'

 

We don't post photos with names. Still, if the parent/student has given full consent to post it.... and you have that logged.. fill your boots.

 

Edit: parent can't order you to post something on the school website regardless if they like it or not. I also wouldn't take advice from a parent regarding GDPR.

Edited July 6, 2018 by mthomas08

[enjay]

Remember it isn't up to your parents to dictate your policy for what you put on the website and how. I agree with your data manager in not starting to have lots of possible options in the consent form. Ours is a yes/no question about using the photo; we don't offer the option to have photos on the school website but not Twitter.

 

As I said earlier, I would have a conversation with the parent to find out why they are unhappy but ultimately you don't need the photo and name on your website in order to do your job, so the parent is entirely within their right to say no.

[jmak]

The form I've just received from the local secondary has the standard permissions requested (photo but no name) and says that if they ever want to publish the name with the photo they'll contact parents on a case by case basis. Seems sensible to me.

 

With reference to the op, I don't think I'd give blanket permission for my kid's name and photo to be used freely. I wouldn't give it for me either, which would be my starting point when considering what my kid's data could be used for.