If photo use is “bundled” with other things on a list, you are not really able to consent (or refuse to consent) without also consenting (or refusing) all the other items on the list. Asking you to consent only once to a list of 10 separate items is sloppy practice… even if it is administratively easier for the school. Make you consent to everything at once.If this approach is taken by a school in relation to photo use, the school may be in breach of its obligations under privacy law. If, by failing to consent, you are unable to enrol in the school or register your child for an activity… the school is not really asking for your consent. Parents, you can ask your school to do better! Asking you for permission when it is required involves providing you with a form (whether hard copy, online or in some other way) that contains all the information necessary for the school to meet the VICS test. Schools have the ability to collect, use and disclose personal information for a wide variety of legitimate school purposes (and these purposes are usually spelt out clearly in a school’s Privacy Policy) – but there will be times when they need to ask for your permission first.įor example, there are circumstances where consent is needed for schools to collect, use and share photos – such as when the school wishes to publish images of your child taken at school on a public social media feed.įor your consent to be valid it must be voluntary, informed, current and specific (VICS). It’s a risk for them because, generally, privacy regulators frown on this approach – particularly where there is a potential for privacy to be compromised by the activity proposed (such as sharing of a student’s photo over social media). It’s a risk for you because the school may be doing something that would ordinarily be against your wishes. If a school implies your consent, it is risky for both you and them.
Schools sometimes take this approach because they are frustrated with the low return rates with paper forms (whether due to “paper fatigue” experienced by parents, or perhaps the form simply being lost in the bottom of school bags) When this happens, it is called “implied consent”. There is a risk that the school may take your silence or inaction to mean that you are okay with whatever it is they are proposing (whereas, if you had an objection then you would have returned the form). If I don’t return a consent form, does the school automatically assume I don’t consent? YES!! Consent (or withholding consent) to what happens to your child’s personal information is vital to ensuring their privacy – for example, it increases your control over what personal information you’re okay for the school to share with others. If you don’t return consent forms, you are missing an opportunity to decide if you’re ok with what the school is proposing. 3 questions I wish parents would ask a little more often: Are they handling these images appropriately to ensure they reduce risks to children? Have school administration or marketing staff been given the right level of training and support to ensure privacy risks are minimised? From my travels, I would say no. As parents, we cannot ignore the fact that schools are taking more and more photos and videos of our kids and sharing them online via school Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts. Yet we should be considering the potential long-term consequences before pressing that share button which exposes them, in an instant, to a global audience.īeyond parents sharing, the next most important organisation in a child’s life between the ages of 5 and 18, is a school. I don’t believe parents should be asking 2-year olds whether they consent to the sharing of their photos online. The Paltrow story is only touching the tip of this iceberg. Facebook only began in 2004, which means those toddlers snapped 15 years ago are now turning into teenagers. I have always believed that the sharing of personal data of young people over the internet without considering the long-term effects would one-day emerge as a social crisis as these children, and platforms used, mature. There has been a lot of press lately on the topic of parents sharing children’s photos online without consent (specifically Gwyneth Paltrow and her daughter) and with good reason. With this week being Privacy Awareness Week across Australia, I’d like to share my thoughts on a very important privacy topic – Consent.
0 kommentar(er)
