Allowing parents to have a copy of Sports Personality video material

[ataylor]

Recently our PE Dept did a Sports Personality evening of which contained many videos of the students - We have gained permission to use these students Photographs/Footage for publicity purposes (twitter/FB/Newspaper etc) and internal use.

 

Where do I stand when a parent has requested footage that includes their child and other students? Would I have to gain explicit permission of each parent/student(if 13 or over) for this footage to be passed on to the parent?

[elsiegee40]

You don’t have explicit permission to share with other parents therefore it cannot be shared with the requesting parent.

 

Did your permissions even include using the footage at the evening? Generic permissions are no longer allowed

[enjay]

You don’t have explicit permission to share with other parents therefore it cannot be shared with the requesting parent.

 

Really? He has permission to put it online, why wouldn't he be allowed to share it directly with a parent?

 

Of course, since you can put it online, why are you sharing it directly with the parent?!

[elsiegee40]

I just got the impression this was a generic, start of year, one form covers everything type permission. Which shouldn't be happening anyway now. I see your point enjay and I had missed the twitter thing in the opening post

[ataylor]

Just double checked with our DPO and it seems to be the consensus! We have a collection of permissions for internal use (e.g school displays) and permissions for publicity usage (Images used in the press, on the school website, twitter, and promotional material or by third parties recording events students may attend in school or on a visit from school.)

 

Also - how do we stand in the event of video evidence for curriculum use, for example recording evidence of a student playing the drums, a drama project or Photography where they take photos of one another to manipulate on Photoshop?

[ataylor]

I just got the impression this was a generic, start of year, one form covers everything type permission. Which shouldn't be happening anyway now. I see your point enjay and I had missed the twitter thing in the opening post

 

Can we collect permissions for certain use in bulk? would seem ridiculous to ask for every little project/event?

[enjay]

Curriculum use doesn't require consent, you'd be covering that under public authority - I would probably check with any students/their parents if you have a " don't photograph child" in the class though.

 

You can have a bulk permission for all projects as long as it is opt-in not opt-out. Ours is written fairly generically to allow all sorts of uses, rather than the granular option of saying "you can use it in a newsletter but not on Twitter".

[GrumbleDook]

Curriculum use doesn't require consent, you'd be covering that under public authority - I would probably check with any students/their parents if you have a " don't photograph child" in the class though.

 

You can have a bulk permission for all projects as long as it is opt-in not opt-out. Ours is written fairly generically to allow all sorts of uses, rather than the granular option of saying "you can use it in a newsletter but not on Twitter".

 

And then parents like me come along and say the lack of granularity means my son/daughter generally has 2 choices ... take part in everything and the pic can be used or take part in nothing.

 

Consent cannot be forced and should not disadvantage the data subject.

 

If it means not being able to do school events, that disadvantages children.

[enjay]

And then parents like me come along and say the lack of granularity means my son/daughter generally has 2 choices ... take part in everything and the pic can be used or take part in nothing.

 

I disagree. Your views on the use of the photo do not prevent your child from taking part in the activity, they just mean the supervising staff members need to ensure your child is not in any of the photos which go online. That could mean being selective with which shots of the cricket match they use or it could mean ensuring your child is not in the post-match team photo, but it does not mean preventing your child from playing cricket.

[GrumbleDook]

I disagree. Your views on the use of the photo do not prevent your child from taking part in the activity, they just mean the supervising staff members need to ensure your child is not in any of the photos which go online. That could mean being selective with which shots of the cricket match they use or it could mean ensuring your child is not in the post-match team photo, but it does not mean preventing your child from playing cricket.

 

A lot of consent forms are written as such that if you take part, then you are granting consent ... or rather, by granting consent they can now take part. It might not be the case in your school but a substantial number still don't understand the difference.

 

It might also be that I am happy for a pic to be on the newsletter but not on twitter, or on the website but not on FB.

The chances of pictures of family being found by birth family on the school website are small, but the chances on FB are higher.

 

At that point some schools start talking about, "well, tell us which ones you don't want us to use..." and them you have to explain again about this becoming opt-out, not opt-in.

[enjay]

A lot of consent forms are written as such that if you take part, then you are granting consent ... or rather, by granting consent they can now take part. It might not be the case in your school but a substantial number still don't understand the difference.

 

Not ours. You consent to use of photos on one form, and you consent to participation in the event on a different one.

 

It might also be that I am happy for a pic to be on the newsletter but not on twitter, or on the website but not on FB.

 

In which case you would refuse consent to use the photo.

 

At that point some schools start talking about, "well, tell us which ones you don't want us to use..." and them you have to explain again about this becoming opt-out, not opt-in.

 

Given the very small number of students on our "no photograph" list, we decided not to go down that road as it generates a lot of extra admin and increases the chance of mistakes being made. Also, our newsletters go on the website and we may sometimes post a link to them on Twitter. So, if we have a student who could appear on our website but not Twitter, could we tweet the link? We're not technically putting the photo on Twitter, but we are making it accessible via Twitter. Minefield.

[Edutech98]

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Consent cannot be forced and should not disadvantage the data subject.

 

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I also think this is getting confused between consent and fair processing.

 

You don't need consent to take a picture of a child in a class, nor to put it on a prospectus, it would generally be done under a task carried out in the public interest.

 

However you need to process data fairly, so you should inform the parent/child that they are having their picture taken and what the picture is for. If they decide they don't want the picture taken, then it would be a fair expectation for the child not to have the picture taken. You are not asking for consent - because you are not using consent as the lawful bases - you are just informing them and acting fairly whilst using public interest as your lawful bases.

[enjay]

You don't need consent to take a picture of a child in a class, nor to put it on a prospectus, it would generally be done under a task carried out in the public interest.

 

I would dispute that. I agree we can take photos to include in SIMS so we can identify children, that's public interest and in the case of identifying students with medical conditions, vital interests. I would disagree, however, about the prospectus - the school can function just fine without a kid's photo in their prospectus, so they need consent to use it.

[Edutech98]

This is what the ICO guidance says...

 

"A small group of pupils are photographed during a science lesson and the photo is to be used in the school prospectus. This will be personal data but will not breach the Act as long as the children and/or their guardians are aware this is happening and the context in which the photo will be used."