We believe that it is important to have a digital media policy these days. Not for the love of paperwork or red tape, but because it is very easy for anyone and everyone to take photos or videos and then upload them to websites or social media without giving much thought to the legal or moral implications. A simple, straight-forward policy clears up any ambiguity for both photographers and subjects.
Contents
- Digital media and data privacy
- Definition of “consent”
- Consent by participation
- Third-party photographers
- Uploading to social media
- Consideration for what is appropriate
- Media from affiliated clubs
- Credit for photographers
Digital media and data privacy
Under the GDPR, digital media is counted as “personal information” if an individual is recognisable in the media. Therefore, it is important to relate our recording and use of digital media back to the AHA Data Protection Policy.
We have identified that our lawful basis for recording and using digital media is mainly legitimate interests. We may ask for consent, as a matter of courtesy, but it is not consent that we use for our lawful basis for processing, as this has a different meaning under the GDPR.
Definition of “consent”
Please note that in this policy document, our use of the word “consent” is not linked to the legal term of “consent” in the Data Protection Act 2018, but should be understood more as “permission” in the normal sense of this word.
Consent by participation
By attending any session, event, or activity organised or run by the Academy of Historical Arts, you give your consent to be filmed or have your photograph taken. We reserve the right to take photos or videos of the activities we organise or run.
Furthermore, you give your consent and permission for the Academy of Historical Arts and our representatives to use these items of media for any reasonable purpose, including advertising our organisation or promoting our activities or objectives. To be able to continue running activities, we need to be able to promote that we are running them, and digital media is an important part of this.
The photographer will retain the copyright of the media as per UK copyright law and will also have your consent and permission to use any of the media he or she records, for any reasonable purpose. This is the default policy, although for certain projects or activities, different arrangements may be agreed beforehand.
Consent and under-18s
A parent or guardian must give consent and permission for digital media of an under-18 to be used by the organisation or by the photographer. Verbal permission is sufficient.
If an under-18 is present at an activity primarily for adults, at which the photographer may reasonably expect to be able to take photos or videos of adults engaging in the activity, then the photographer may record these photos and/or videos even if under-18s are present. However, before uploading such media anywhere, or using it for any purpose, consent and permission must be sought from the parent or guardian, as stated above.
Requesting that an image be removed
If you would like to have a photo or video of you removed from any of our online or print media, please inform us in writing by email through our contact form, and we will do our best to facilitate your wish. For example, in a situation where an unflattering photograph appears online after a training session where photographs were taken, it is quite reasonable to ask that that photo be taken down, and we will be happy to comply with such a request.
However, there may be situations where we cannot do anything about such a request. For example, if we hold an event specifically to create digital media for advertising, any media recorded will not be able to be deleted or removed from use once it has been actively put into use by the organisation. We will announce this to everyone in attendance.
Third-party photographers
Typically, we do not mind if anyone wants to take photos or record videos at any of our sessions, events, or activities. Normally, we are quite happy to see images of our events, and there is usually nothing wrong with people taking a few photos of a session, or filming some sparring, or suchlike. However, at any of our activities, we do reserve the right to ask anyone to stop their photography at any time, for any reason.
We also reserve the right to request and require a high-resolution copy of any and all digital media created by photographers at any of our activities, as well as permission to use the media for any of our own purposes. If photographers are not willing to comply with this, then we may refuse permission for any further photography to be done.
Finally, we reserve the right to request that any digital media taken by photographers at any of our activities be withdrawn from publication if it is inappropriate or if it shows our organisation, members, or activities in a negative fashion. By undertaking photography at our activity, all photographers agree to this and agree to honour any and all such requests.
Please note that under the Data Protection Act 2018, businesses have a greater responsibility than individuals recording media for personal and non-commercial purposes. Any photographer recording media for any commercial purpose must ensure that they are compliant with current data protection legislation in order to be able to assume your consent and permission to use any of the media he or she records. Any individual recording media for personal and non-commercial purposes does not need to worry about the GDPR when using their media for those purposes, according to the Data Protection Act 2018.
Social media
Uploading to social media
Although uploading photos and video to social media may be one of the most common ways to use these files, it is important to be aware of the licences and agreements for using these third-party services, and what this might mean. For example, when a user uploads a photo to Facebook, it is covered by Facebook’s terms and conditions, which state that the user gives Facebook licence to use, share, sell, and store the image, for any purpose, until the user deletes the photo from the service.[source] If this is unacceptable to the photographer, then the image should not be uploaded to that service in the first place, and it is up to the photographer to make this known to the organisation upfront.
We do upload images and videos to social media sites, to help with marketing our activities and for other business purposes. We upload media that we have recorded ourselves, and we may also upload media provided to us that was recorded by third-party photographers, as per Third-party photographers above.
When we upload media to Facebook, we may “tag” individuals. The main reason that we do this is to make sure people are aware of media appearing on Facebook in which they feature. Facebook users can set their account to “automatically accept tags” (and thus it was their choice to do this) or to “review before adding to timeline” (again, their choice of setting, and then it would be another choice to post photos to their timeline). Once “tagged”, individuals will be aware that the photos or videos exist, and can request that the “tag” be removed if they so wish.
We do our best to avoid posting photos or videos of under-18s to social media, unless the individuals are as unidentifiable as possible (such as by wearing fencing masks so that the face is obscured). An exception would be if we are marketing an activity or event for under-18s (or at which under-18s would be welcome), for which it would be reasonable to use such media.
Consideration for what is appropriate
Whenever we use digital media, we will endeavour to choose images or videos that are appropriate for the context, and that show our organisation (and members and activities) in a positive fashion.
If a piece of digital media taken at one of our events shows our organisation, our members, or our activities in a negative light, then we may contact the photographer to request that the media be withdrawn from circulation.
Media from affiliated clubs
The Academy of Historical Arts does not make any claim of ownership or copyright over digital media recorded by or for affiliated clubs, nor do we accept any responsibility or liability for what affiliated clubs do with their digital media. We urge affiliated clubs to consider the issue of digital media carefully and to create a suitable policy for photography and use of digital media thereafter.
Credit for photographers
Whenever we use a photo or video, if at all possible, we will endeavour to credit the photographer. It is only fair to say who created a piece of digital media! If we have used a piece of digital media and have not given credit, it will be an oversight rather than malicious intent; please do contact us to let us know where your media has appeared without your name beside it, and we will attempt to correct the mistake.