Thank you to those who reported the two inappropriate posts that appeared on the Hartington Community Group Facebook yesterday. Both reports were acted on by the Digital Hartington Group and were removed within an hour of being reported, one within 5 minutes! Thank you for helping to keep the HCG Facebook page a safe place for our community.
On another matter: Recently there has been a significant increase in postings related to the history of the Village. It is both fascinating and has generated a lot of interest across the community, triggering many fond memories of bygone Hartington. We feel, however, that we should draw the attention of those posting images to the Facebook page to issues of Copyright and Privacy. The following links take you to the Facebook Guidance on these matters.
- Intellectual property. Facebook has clear guidance on this Community Standards (facebook.com) including “However, before sharing content on Facebook, please make sure that you have the right to do so. We ask that you respect other people’s copyrights, trademarks and other legal rights.” They have processes in place where users can raise complaints and get content removed. It is worth noting that copyright remains with the photographer and this is active until 70 years after the death of the photographer and can be passed down to heirs. The assumption must be that the photographer lived until old age.
- Privacy. Again, Facebook has guidance on privacy Community Standards (facebook.com) and again defines processes to follow if users want to raise complaints about content. The UK privacy laws help guide us:
“Taking a photo of a person where they can expect privacy (inside their home or garden) is likely to be a breach of privacy laws. The other issue to consider is what you plan to do with the photograph afterwards. If the picture is of an individual, perhaps as a portrait or character study, and you intend to publish it in any way (on the internet, in a book or at a gallery), it would be appropriate and may avoid unnecessary complications if you ask that person for permission, many media organisations are international and will not accept an identifiable photograph of a person without a signed release. If the photo could be seen as defamatory in some way then you would leave yourself open to civil proceedings.”
By signing up to Facebook, an individual agrees to adhere to these policies so the risk generated by non-compliance is on the individual making the posting.
Any individuals with concerns over content posted should follow Facebook guidance. For a full list of guidance on Facebook Community Standards please follow this link:
Community Standards (facebook.com)
Thank you all for keeping the HCG Facebook a very active, very interesting and safe place to communicate.
The Digital Hartington Team.
