Remembering events through photos has long been a staple in youth ministry, however with social media sites, new laws and a lot of dodgy people out there, how do we deal with sharing photos in a way that is beneficial to our youth ministry, our young people, glorifying the Lord and adhering to the law?
One of the catalysts to my questioning is that I’ve seen a stack of people posting well taken photos from nightclubs or big events (with the businesses watermark on the corner), which made me think… this is a good idea. The people obviously want to be associated with the event they’re at and the company gets free advertising and a way to connect with them in the future. So we ran a photo booth at a youth event and posted the photos on our youth Facebook page and it was a big hit! Heaps of young people reposted them, friend requests were accepted and we end up with some great exposure to friends and family as we added an obvious watermark to the photo via a free watermarking program (www.watermark-image.com/).
However I had one big question looming in my mind… is this legal? And can I get in trouble for posting pictures of minors (under 18) on social media sites?
Below are some points to follow when looking at posting photos online. Information has been taken (shown in italics) from Images of children and young people online, NCPC Resource Sheet, April 2010 (http://www.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/sheets/rs18/rs18.html):
- Get permission. It’s pretty much the biggest issue in the whole photo privacy law, to get parental and child’s (anyone under 18) permission before posting online. This can be done simply by adding a statement that they have to sign on your medical and/or sign in sheet, explaining: the reasons for acquiring and displaying the image and how the visual material will be published. Interesting that they ask to get both parent and child’s consent. Child isn’t the law, but they say that more often, minors are acting like adults with their information online, so best practice to get both signatures (or to have as tick box with signature at end).
- Without consent – If you don’t have parental consent, then you can’t publish images where a child’s identity can be identified “This means images of children that would enable them to be identified (for example, in a school uniform, outside their house, with their name). This could be somewhat ambiguous depending on the photo (on a camp wouldn’t really identify where they are from), however the general rule would be to not ‘tag’ photos (let them or friends do that) without permission or show close ups of just one or two, group shots are ok.
- Children in Custody or Care: These will enact a different set of laws all together, if a child is in the care of the state, if they’re caught in the middle of custody proceedings or a criminal case, then their identity can’t be published.
- Be Careful with Content: Make sure that the photos published aren’t of a criminal nature: descriptions or depictions of child sexual abuse or any other exploitative or offensive descriptions or depictions involving a person who is, or appears to be, a child under 18 years. Again, this is another area of law, but one that is particularly serious. We not only have to check that there isn’t any dodgy content, but also that it can’t be perceived as being bad or have comments that could be offensive.
- Act Quickly: I would imagine that if we’re being vigilant, that any complaints would be from a parent who is being extra security conscious or has changed their mind on allowing you to post images of their child. The first thing that every piece of advice online says, is to get in contact with the administrator of the site. In which case, we remove the photo and that should be the end of it.
- Private Pages: If your youth group page is private, then this puts a barrier in the way of any potential issue of posting online. Only those who you have allowed to see the photos have access, however, remember that as soon as someone in that group ‘likes’ or ‘tags’ a photo, then everyone that they know can now see it. They can also copy that photo or share it onto their own pages. Best to check through your privacy settings carefully to make sure you’re doing everything you can to protect your images from the wrong people.
This is where Scripture Union is at with its online privacy policy for leaders on camps, which is different from their chaplains policy that I hear is even stricter and restrictive for them. 211 Online Community Guidelines PDF
