Are we allowed to have pictures of young people on our club web sites without their parent’s permission?
We were recently asked to take off an image from our web site because ‘the father will be able to track us down’, from the image!. This we did not have a problem with due to the circumstances of the situation. What did get my goat was,
(a) The woman threatened us with the Child Protection Act
(b) If the father was to look at the UK Slalom web site he would get the kids division, events and their dates and their club, anyway.
Does it come under the CPA? Can we get into trouble, or is it just a case of being courteous and understanding?
Images of young paddlers - Does it come under the Child Protection
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John Sturgess
- Posts: 280
- Joined: Thu May 27, 2004 12:01 am
- Location: Gedling, Nottingham/Long Preston, North Yorkshire
Sorry: long and complicated answer coming up ...
!) In terms of 'the father may be able to track us down'
There are very few situations where the father is not allowed to make contact with his child; and it is done by means of a court order on the father: it has no implications for other organisations. On the other hand there is a much larger number of situations where a parent is legally entitled to access and the parent who has custody tries to prevent it (no, this is not a commercial for Fathers4Justice...)
2) It is nothing to do with the Child Protection Act - in fact as an Act there is no such animal. The Children Act 1989 is concerned with protecting children from violence and abuse.
3) If you were using data entrusted to you for a particular purpose for another problem - ie putting the child's address on your website - then you might have problems with the Data Protection Act: but this does not seem to be the case.
4) Photography and the use of images is a question of codes rather than the law. And like most things in that sort of area, there are levels, and those who practise particular levels will tend to tell everyone else that this is required by law ...
5) For instance, the parents of every child who competed at the 2006 Nottinghamshire Youth Games had to fill in a consent form which included a box to be ticked if they did not wish photos of their child to be taken and used. Out of 2000+ children, two parents ticked the box. Their children wore yellow wrist bands all day; all other children had to wear a wrist-band of a different colour ... At the same extreme are those primary school headteachers who forbid photography at a school nativity play etc.
6) In a slightly more middle-of-the-way position are those who say that no photograph of a child should be published with the child's name. But each year the Halifax Evening Courier publishes photos in June of every Year 6 class in Calderdale schools - with names - and in September, of every Reception class - with names.
7) From what you say, identification would have to be by means of looking at a ranking Bib number, and then cross-referencing to the results publishedon the web-site (ranking lists on the website do not show Clubs). A father who knows Slalom to that extent will not find it difficult to track a child down without the assistance of your Club web-site.
So it seems to me to come down to a question of courtesy: I would not want a 'photo of me paddling to be taken, or to appear on a website, for rather different reasons. So if one of your members asked for the photo to be taken off the website, you should really do so.
9) And perhaps you could put a tick-box on your membership form?
!) In terms of 'the father may be able to track us down'
There are very few situations where the father is not allowed to make contact with his child; and it is done by means of a court order on the father: it has no implications for other organisations. On the other hand there is a much larger number of situations where a parent is legally entitled to access and the parent who has custody tries to prevent it (no, this is not a commercial for Fathers4Justice...)
2) It is nothing to do with the Child Protection Act - in fact as an Act there is no such animal. The Children Act 1989 is concerned with protecting children from violence and abuse.
3) If you were using data entrusted to you for a particular purpose for another problem - ie putting the child's address on your website - then you might have problems with the Data Protection Act: but this does not seem to be the case.
4) Photography and the use of images is a question of codes rather than the law. And like most things in that sort of area, there are levels, and those who practise particular levels will tend to tell everyone else that this is required by law ...
5) For instance, the parents of every child who competed at the 2006 Nottinghamshire Youth Games had to fill in a consent form which included a box to be ticked if they did not wish photos of their child to be taken and used. Out of 2000+ children, two parents ticked the box. Their children wore yellow wrist bands all day; all other children had to wear a wrist-band of a different colour ... At the same extreme are those primary school headteachers who forbid photography at a school nativity play etc.
6) In a slightly more middle-of-the-way position are those who say that no photograph of a child should be published with the child's name. But each year the Halifax Evening Courier publishes photos in June of every Year 6 class in Calderdale schools - with names - and in September, of every Reception class - with names.
7) From what you say, identification would have to be by means of looking at a ranking Bib number, and then cross-referencing to the results publishedon the web-site (ranking lists on the website do not show Clubs). A father who knows Slalom to that extent will not find it difficult to track a child down without the assistance of your Club web-site.
So it seems to me to come down to a question of courtesy: I would not want a 'photo of me paddling to be taken, or to appear on a website, for rather different reasons. So if one of your members asked for the photo to be taken off the website, you should really do so.9) And perhaps you could put a tick-box on your membership form?
We tackled this issue a year or two back by adding a simple paragraph:
'I do / do not (delete as appropriate) consent to images of me/us participating in club activities being used for club publicity including on the Club's website'
This was as much to make everyone aware of where pictures may appear as it was to cover ourselves - incidently we ask all members or parents to sign this. Of course circumstances may change during the year so we'd always take pics off if some-one asked (unless its a pic of our chairman swimming!)
No-one so far has opted for 'do not consent'. Interestingly, a quick flick through the membership form actually show many people haven't read it or deleted one option (myself included!) So we are likely to move to an opt out tick box as John mentions.
'I do / do not (delete as appropriate) consent to images of me/us participating in club activities being used for club publicity including on the Club's website'
This was as much to make everyone aware of where pictures may appear as it was to cover ourselves - incidently we ask all members or parents to sign this. Of course circumstances may change during the year so we'd always take pics off if some-one asked (unless its a pic of our chairman swimming!)
No-one so far has opted for 'do not consent'. Interestingly, a quick flick through the membership form actually show many people haven't read it or deleted one option (myself included!) So we are likely to move to an opt out tick box as John mentions.