If I record a copy of the Parish Council Zoom meeting, can I add this onto the Village FB Group or even a Youtube Page

Question

If I record a copy of the Parish Council Zoom meeting that we have to currently have due to Covid... can I add this onto the Village FB Group or even a Youtube Page so other people in the parish can listen to it at their own leisure as a lot can't attend at the time we have ours and the PC will not record it for others to listen to.

Answer 1

As the meeting is open to the public (or should be) and recording is allowed by statute, and as far as I know at the moment public distribution ( as with written notes or audio recordings) is allowed.

Where it may start to get into murky waters is how it was recorded and any copyright. If you use your own computer to record it directly then I see less problems but if you use a recording provided by the media on which the meeting is held then there may be a question of who owns the copyright. Would it be the media provider( say zoom) or the group using their service (the council)? You may need to trawl the media providers terms and conditions to answer that possibility.

Comments

There's no copyright issue. You may broadcast it wherever you wish, just like any other member of the public.

Just one word of caution. I've seen several Zoom meetings on YouTube recently and whilst the conduct of members of the council during the meeting may be acceptable, some of the casual chit chat whilst waiting for the meeting to commence is cringeworthy! This can be edited out, but many people seem unaware of this. Similarly, it goes without saying that if the council goes into closed session during the meeting, this section must be edited out.

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Of course copyright is dependent on creative content so I think a lot of council meetings might fall into this category :-D

Answer 2

You can add your own recording captured on your own video camera without issue at all.

If you record & capture the streamed data from somebody else's eqpt , e.g. the Parish Council video camera, then the PC have the ownership and copyright of that streamed data. Ideally they should have a media policy that makes it clear what copying permissions applies to any of its audio, video and images.

Answer 3

Zoom meeting that going on to a public forum such as Facebook or YouTube must make sure safeguarding rules are followed such as the protection of vulnerable people and or children.

Also you also are displaying individuals homes to the general public bearing in mind councillors addresses are displayed on the website.
Many people also use their work addresses to log on and have may be not have obtained permission.

My advice - proceed with caution! It the recording is going onto a public forum, every participant must be informed so they have the choice to leave.

Comments

It's a public meeting of a public body. The current model standing orders states:

"...a person who attends a meeting is permitted to report on the meeting whilst the meeting is open to the public. To “report” means to film, photograph, make an audio recording of meeting proceedings, use any other means for enabling persons not present to see or hear the meeting as it takes place or later or to report or to provide oral or written commentary about the meeting so that the report or commentary is available as the meeting takes place or later to persons not present."

There is no requirement for a person to request permission to record, or to notify of their intention to record, nor power for a council to determine whether or not recording may take place.

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Genuine question  - were the model standing orders written with zoom meetings in mind, or do they precede the pandemic and anticipate a recording of a meeting held in a public place without some of the risks that Clark Gable outlines?

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The concept of video recording of local council meetings first appeared in The Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014. It was simply a way of enabling people to find out what their local council was up to without having to attend the meetings. With many district and county councils (and some town and parish councils) conducting their meetings during normal office hours, members of the public who also worked normal office hours were unable to attend.

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In respect to safeguarding rules we have had to interrupt some of our meetings as children have come into the room to speak to Mum or Dad (in the pyjamas ). We have asked people to turn their videos off if children enter the room.

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If you were meeting in your normal venue, members of the council with childcare responsibilities would need to make appropriate arrangements for the care of their offspring to enable them to attend the meeting. This should be no different for a virtual meeting. Members who fail to do so should be reprimanded for disrupting the meeting.

If a parent chooses to broadcast video of their pyjama-clad children on t'internet, that is their choice. The council cannot be held responsible. There have been a number of cases of anonymous members of the public gate-crashing Zoom meetings and exposing themselves. If that was a council meeting, would you hold the council responsible for the act of indecency?