Due to laws governing the publication of photographs of minors in magazines and/or websites, can any parents and/or guardians of youngsters under the age of 16 please give me their permission to publish photographs of their youngsters who attended the Fun event in the next edition of the Summits News.
I think this only affects Tom M1EYP for Jimmy, Amanda 2E0MND for Jordan, Lorna and Kieran and Rick M0RCP for Thomas, and Sarah for Timothy 2E0KEA.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation. The photos will be made public on my Flickr group once the next Summits News has been published and anyone who wishes to download them for their collection can do so.
Question: Are there any recommended guidelines on taking and displaying photos of children?
Answer: There is a potential for abuse of any image placed on the internet. This could be by cutting & pasting images, editing images or changing the context within which the images are viewed. Changing images digitally in this way is sometimes called ‘morphing’.
Just one example above, most laws cover children in schools and children in sport. Can sota or hill climbing be described as a sport?
The fact is Andy, it’s my neck on the block should anyone complain and nobody elses, so it’s a belt and braces situation as far as I’m concerned. What harm can it do to have the decency and good manners to ask for the permission of the parents of minors? Better safe than sorry.
I absolutely support you position on this matter even though the need for you to take this stance reflects the sorry state that this World has come to.
An innocent pursuit like Amateur Radio is reduced to having to take cognisance of the sad misfits who would even think of abusing something so simple as a photograph of a youngster engaged in an outdoor, technical and healthy pursuit such as SOTA.
I refuse to take even the slightest risk where the good names of the Summits Knowledgbase and SOTA are cocerned. As you rightly say, it’s a sad reflection of the sick modern sosciety we live in.
My support too Mike, you are doing just what I would have done, and also with a heavy heart.
As you know I am heavily involved with a photographic forum and the legal standpoint is this; if you take the photo on public property or land you can do so without any comeback or legal obligation to the subjects of the photo and it matters not the age or gender, race or creed, you can also do what you want in respect of publishing said photo in any kind of media you wish.
In this instance I wholeheartedly agree that you sought the permission of the parents as it was the correct thing to do in respect of your friends in SOTA.
I too have been caught out a handfull of times and so now I am more than cautious. I was photographing my son Morgan playing for the local town football team, of which I am the coach, and one of the match officials came up to me and said “excuse me you cant do that here, you cant take photo’s of children like that” “I dont know you and you might be doing it for funny reasons” I asked him what he meant by funny reasons to which the reply was “You know, dodgy photos of kids” (shrugging his shoulders)
I said " First of all I am the team coach for Clitheroe Wolves FC, the team playing on the pitch, secondly one of the players is my son, thirdly I am in posession of my CRB certificate, and finally if you think I am of the dodgy type do you think I would be on the touchline with a £2000 DSLR, a huge great white 400mm lens, all attached to a monopod in full view of everyone ?"
He walked away and came back with the other team coach, who’s pitch we were playing on, and in a very civil manner asked me to stop taking photographs, as it is private land and if you dont comply we will ask you and your team to leave the ground.
My blood had reached well over the statute 100 degrees, but I had no option but to comply. How sad that in this day and age we cannot record our childrens activities for them and us to enjoy later in life as I now do with my father who was a keen amateur photographer. Sad very sad… Now if I had been using my mobile phone or a small compact hidden under my jacket, would it have brought the same response ?? Its crazy !!!
In reply to M0LMP:
Unfortunately Lee this is indeed the world we live in, created by generation after generation of our families, by governments we vote in :S
Still, if your lad was a boxer and you coached, would they let you take photos then? easy answer is YES its part of the training regime as I understand. I understand the whole issue of CRB and child protection and quite frankly its gone to the wall, look at schools and the discipline of our children it says it all really doesn’t it :S
Thanks for your support. The need to ask permission in my case is three fold.
Purely out of respect for the parents of the youngsters involved.
There are laws governing this issue as you rightly said, my XYL works in connection with minors, so I know the legalities off by heart. The main one surrounding the pictures with SOTA participants is the fact that once the photos are published, ‘morphing’ could take place by the sickos who unfortunately live and breath around us, although it’s highly unlikely in this case.
I have to cover my own derrier!! There are those who would sue us for nothing these days, another sad side of modern society. I therefore have to think of myself, SOTA, The Sotaforum and the Summitsbase who I represent when publishing photos on the web.
I will seek parental permission where minors are concerned every single time Lee and if anyone thinks that it’s OTT, well tough, it won’t be them standing in front of the magistrate if it all went wrong! Better safe than sorry every time.
73
Mike GW0DSP
P.S. Just to add, I also have police clearance Lee, although not neccessary for photography, it was required for youth work.
In reply to GW0DSP:
Hi Mike,
I hope you dont hink I was “having a pop” at your ott request for clearance, not at all, I am 100% behind you (have you had beans today? HI) and it is you that will be ostracised should anything go amiss, I was just saying from a legal point of view, if you take a photo on public land, you can do what you want with the final image, the copyright of said image is yours and you can do with it what you wish.
If it was my photo of the gang on Sunday going in the news ??? I would have been the orgiinal poster of this thread !!
In reply to GW0DSP:
Hi Mike,
I hope you dont hink I was “having a pop” at your ott
request for clearance, not at all, I am 100% behind you > Cheers Mike
Lee
You have me baffled with that one Lee, lol. The first thing I said was thanks for your support.
No matey, I never thought anything other than that you supported my views on this issue. Any comments I made were aimed at anyone who might think that my request was OTT.
Both Ian and I are both CRB checked for our work with the scouts, but apparently you have to have a separate check for each voluntary/employed group (that involves working with children) you work within. (Talk about a waste of money).
The thing is you can’t be too careful. Things have changed a lot since I was a kid, let alone when you guys were young (he he).
I know I can be a bit over-protective, (just ask Jordan), but there are times when you have to think on the other side of the coin and start to learn to let go. Some parents can’t/or wont do that! What we learnt by trial and error is now covered by the health and safety nappy bridgade.
Things have changed a lot since I was a kid, let alone when you guys were
young (he he).
ooh!! Careful now you young whipersnapper, I’m not that old, he he.
I agree wholeheartedly Amanda. Red tape has gone absolutely crazy, in some cases, not without good reason.
We now live in a society where parents can find themselves in court for disciplining their own children, where school staff are expected to take a beating in school but daren’t retaliate, where the criminal has far more rights than the victim, etc etc. The world has gone crazy. Still, that’s another story for another thread.