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Digital Media Policy

Introduction

The CDNIS Digital Media Policy (“Policy”) sets out how Canadian International School of Hong Kong (“CDNIS”, “we”, “our”, “us”) uses digital media containing images of individuals at our school. Through this Policy, we aim to protect individuals’ right to privacy and minimise the risks to which children can be exposed through the misuse of digital media.

The use of digital media can make valuable contributions to the daily life of our school. We wish to responsibly use digital media in a manner consistent with applicable data protection laws, child protection laws, and be respectful of privacy concerns.  

General Provisions

This Policy shall only apply whenever employees, contractors, or volunteers process digital media for official school use. Digital media used/processed purely for personal use by parents and children are usually exempt from data protection laws and thus do not fall under this Policy.

Upon enrollment in our school, parents are provided with an electronic copy of this Policy.  Upon agreement of this Policy a student can have their likeness processed in digital media in accordance with this Policy.

At any time, parents are able to withdraw previously-provided consent through communication with the school’s Communication Department. If consent is withdrawn, the school shall take the following actions: 

  • For school marketing and fundraising materials, consent can be withdrawn at any time and the images replaced at the next annual publication of the materials.
  • For the school website, consent can be withdrawn at any time and the digital media replaced at the next annual review of the website.
  • For the school managed social media accounts, consent can be withdrawn at any time and the digital media removed within [30] days.

All digital media shall be “For Official Use Only.” All digital media shall be taken by employees, volunteers, media outlets, or by school-contracted professional photographers/videographers. 

Employees, contractors and volunteers shall not download, print, or otherwise physically retain or digitally retain copies of digital media without authorisation.

Employees, contractors, and volunteers shall not manipulate any digital media (such as by creating “deep fake” videos) without prior written authorisation from the CDNIS Communications Department.

All digital media shall be stored in appropriate and approved storage (e.g. locked file cabinets, encrypted external hard drives, approved cloud storage, etc.) owned by CDNIS. Access to such storage shall be limited to those employees and contractors who have been approved to have access.  

Where a professional photographer/videographer is used, there should be clear understanding about what is considered appropriate in terms of both content and data processing.  Furthermore, if a professional photographer/videographer is utilised, there will be no unsupervised access to any student nor any one-on-one photography/videography sessions unless authorised and agreed to by a parent/guardian.  

No digital media shall be used which could be considered to put an individual at increased risk.  We shall not use any digital media of a child who is subject to a court order. 

Only images and videos of children in suitable dress shall be taken or used by our school and our employees (e.g. avoid full body shots of children taking part in activities where they are in a state of undress (such as swimming, gymnastics) as there may be a heightened risk of images being misused).

No data classified as confidential to the school shall be posted to the social media or image sharing and storage (e.g. Google Photos) accounts of authorised employees. This includes any personal data of any individual, including names, without that person’s prior written consent (with the exception that the authorised employee shall post his/her own information).

When external individuals or organisations request to use photographs of our campus or students, permission will be sought from parents if students are identifiable. The CDNIS Communications Department must be copied on permission requests and when permission is granted.

CDNIS has no control over materials once they are posted online, and these can be copied or sent without our knowledge or permission. All materials are copyrighted by CDNIS unless otherwise indicated. CDNIS will not post copyrighted material without written permission from the appropriate parties. CDNIS provides links to other websites or resources. We do not control these sites and resources, do not endorse them, and are not responsible for their availability, content, or delivery of services. In particular, external sites are not bound by CDNIS’s privacy policy.

How Our School Uses Digital Media

CDNIS routinely captures photos and live or taped video of its students, employees and visitors to campus and uses these images on its website, social media channels, fundraising materials, marketing materials (print, video, and digital ads), and student publications. CDNIS reserves the right to reproduce these images and files. Faculty members are encouraged to share the work happening within their classrooms through photos and videos on their Toddle or other approved CDNIS digital channels. By studying at, working at, or visiting CDNIS, an individual acknowledges this right of the school.