Troop Websites
Troop Websites Unit Website Guidelines Protection of personal information Copyright infringement Commercialism—no adds Appropriate content
Personal Information Protection BSA advocates for compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act COPPA imposes requirements on operators of websites or online services who have PI on children under 13 years of age. Standard BSA practices Family/scout photo/video permission forms No last names No PI on scouts (addresses, phones, email addresses, etc.)
Copyright Protection Photos, music, and video are commonly reused on the Web without permission. Plagiarism is also common. Such practices violate the ethics of Scouting. They are also violations of law, and could expose the publishers legally.
Commercialism Advocate against advertising Recognize that "free" Web services often used to create unit-level sites may contain advertising. This practice may reflect poorly on the Scouting brand, and should be avoided. More serious concern would be sites that engage in any fund-raising activities not previously approved by their local council Any independent sales, solicitation, OR collection of donations is prohibited by our bylaws and charter agreements
Appropriate Content The content of the unit site must be appropriate to the Scouting movement. The unit site cannot link to any sites that contain material that is not appropriate to the Scouting movement. The unit site cannot replicate any BSA publication currently for sale. Unit sites must consider the safety and privacy of their members and participants by obtaining the necessary permissions to release information about or images of any individual.
Troop Webmaster Recognized advancement leadership position Responsible for maintaining the troop’s website Makes sure that information posted on the website is correct and up to date Makes sure members’ and leaders’ privacy is protected Assisted by troop committee member
Discussion Properly maintained website can be a significant contributor to recruiting Improperly maintained website can push potential recruits to other units Twitter—opportunity to post directly to website from phones Facebook—Redundant? Relevant? Control? Scoutbook Summer Camp Blogs
Resources http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Marketing/Resources/UnitWeb.aspx
Questions?