Staying on the right side of the law

5 THINGS

What every charity should

know about social media

Vanessa Barnett

Partner, TMT

@vanessabarnett

THE LAW (AND OTHER STUFF)

Mostly old laws, with a bit of the new

Four key areas of law:

Intellectual property

Data protection/privacy

Defamation/contempt

Employment

One key set of terms and conditions (well, sort of)

Social media platform T+Cs

ONE – RESPECT MY AUTHORITY

(INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY)

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Flikr attribution:

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Flikr attribution:

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Flickr attribution:

p_a_h

Getting the right rights in

Creating new content Commercial production

Assignment always preferable!

User generated content

Assignment unlikely, but very wide licence

Employees/consultants

Using existing third party content Commercial licence

Content libraries

Creative Commons

Be careful licence rights wide enough Exclusive/non-exclusive

Territory

Media

Devices

Language

Copyright myths

Everything on the Internet is in the public domain, so I can use it

No, only stuff where copyright has actually expired is in the public domain

If there’s no copyright notice, I can use it

No, no notice is needed to get copyright, it just arises and the creators are protected – notices, these days, are for information

If I change it, I have not made a copy, so I can use it

No, that’s still a copy which has been derived from the original, so still an infringing copy

If I just copy part of it, it’s not a copy, so I can use it

No, because a copy can be the whole or a substantial part (and that’s qualitative – think of the Mona Lisa smile!)

If I don’t make any money out of it, it’s not commercial, so it’s permitted

No, the exceptions which allow use of copyright works without permission are very narrow (e.g. research, private study, news reporting, etc)

The „right‟ to „share‟

TWO – DON‟T BE A DATA

DUFFUS

Privacy and Electronic

Communications Regulations

Need a positive indication of consent – but that doesn‟t

automatically mean a tick box

Directive defines „the data subject‟s consent‟ as:

„any freely given specific and informed indication of his wishes by

which the data subject signifies his agreement to personal data

relating to him being processed‟

ICO read this as some form of communication where the

individual knowingly indicates consent, saying:

“This may involve clicking an icon, sending an email or subscribing to

a service. The crucial consideration is that the individual must fully

understand that by the action in question they will be giving consent.”

The „soft‟ opt in – how far can you

stretch it?

PECR say no need for consent if:

Obtained details from the intended recipient in the context of a sale

or negotiations for the sale of a product or service AND

The marketing relates to sender‟s own/similar products or services

AND

The recipient is given a simple means of refusing the

communications (but an opt-out or otherwise) at data collection and

on every subsequent communication

So careful with mailing list purchases too!

All boils down to this

Tell people what you are doing with

personal data

Do what you have told them!

THREE – NO SUCH THING

AS #INNOCENT

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Paul Chambers

Sally Bercow

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/twitter-libel-sally-bercow-says-she-has-learned-

the-hard-way-as-she-settles-with-tory-peer-lord-mcalpine-over-libellous-tweet-8630653.html

Jordan

#ad #spon

Disclosure of paid promotions or endorsements

Use ‘#ad’ hashtag or #spon if someone has been paid to

promote your charity

The position of charity „ambassadors‟ is unclear

FOUR – WE ARE ALL IN IT

TOGETHER (UNFORTUNATELY!)

Responsibility for employees

FIVE – DON‟T FORGET THE

CONTRACT STUFF

Common themes for social media

platform T+Cs

Don‟t spam

Don‟t bully, intimidate or harrass

No nudity or pornographic content

Don‟t infringe or violate rights of third parties (including

copyright!)

Don‟t publish confidential stuff

Don‟t associate with us

Get logos right

simples

Facebook specifics

Promotions

Facebook Promotions Guidelines – keep it legal and if any ‘gambling’ element, need consent from Facebook

Ads

Facebook Pages Terms

Relevant and appropriate for audience

Appropriately targeted!

Data

Get consent and be transparent

Cannot use for purpose outside of consents

No tagging without consent!

Twitter specifics

Don‟t send unsolicited @ replies or mentions

When you post something on Twitter you grant Twitter a

licence to do what it wants with your content!

Promoted tweets must be appropriately targeted, comply with

all applicable laws and regulations, and accurately reflect

your brand

Remember @[your charity] will be responsible for all

promoted content on Twitter on its behalf

FINALLY

THANK YOU