Video/audio recording of meetings??

mqandy

As I photographer whos constantly explaining that it's legal for me to take your photo, I suspect it is perfectly legal.

However, as you said, it might hinder free expression etc.

Make a business case for not doing it, that's the only thing companies care about!

eg: Staff less likely to report problems; minutes become longer and unnecessarily detailed; IT storage burdon, etc..

ceridwen

tomstickland wrote: »

What's your problem with it?

Exactly what I was about to say.:cool:

ceridwen

I would be less concerned with what the law does or doesnt say personally - but thats just me.

My "moral" standpoint is:
- any and all group conversations are fair to record
- personal one-to-one conversations are private (and I'd find a way to "throw the book" at anyone who recorded one with me illicitly)
- never mind what the law says - I expect someone to ask for my permission before taking a photograph of me and the answer will probably then be "no" (unless they are a friend or relative).

Idiophreak

I have a "full and frank exchange" in my team meetings, too - but wouldn't worry about anyone recording it...If I say something, odds on it's my view, so I'll be happy to stand up and justify it, should someone ask me to. Generally, I conduct myself in such a way that I wouldn't be apologetic about my views no matter who was listening. (well, internally...I probably wouldn't want the tapes falling into client hands )

Having things quoted out of context is a concern, but no moreso than with written minutes. Every so often, I'll notice a minuter write down a "buzz phrase" and think to myself "I really hope they're going to pad that out later..." Which, of course, they always do - it's important to remember that we're all, at the end of the day, on the same team.

In terms of them keeping the tapes, I don't know if you could get anywhere with the data protection act - once the minutes have been typed up, it could be argued that there's no need for the tape to be retained...Don't know if it would count as "data" as such, though...

westv

A staff meeting where frank and open discussion is expected should never be filmed neither should there be any identification of staff members and any comments they might make in any minutes taken. That may not be the law but that's how I see it. A lot of people will more than likely just not be totally open if they know that what they say is being noted down and marked as being said by them. And if that's the case what's the point in having a meeting for open discussion in the first place?

jonnyd281

I've seen this done with a H&S meeting where the chair wanted the minutes a verbatim record. What exactly was the meeting about - if it was a business meeting and the recording was to assist the secretary preparing acurate minutes I'm not sure I can see a problem. Even a frank exchange of views in a meeing should be at a professional so you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

Uncertain

ceridwen wrote: »

I would be less concerned with what the law does or doesnt say personally - but thats just me.

- personal one-to-one conversations are private (and I'd find a way to "throw the book" at anyone who recorded one with me illicitly)

As I said before such tapes have been accepted by ETs as evidence. Unless your firm has an internal rule then you cannot "throw the book" at anyone.

ceridwen wrote: »

- never mind what the law says - I expect someone to ask for my permission before taking a photograph of me and the answer will probably then be "no" (unless they are a friend or relative).

The facts are that if I take a photograph of you walking down the street, and it is good enough, I can earn my fortune selling it all over the world without your permission or giving you a penny.

If I stopped you and said "excuse me, would you mind standing over there and smiling" then you become a model (even if I don't pay you) and are entitled to a share in anything I earn from the image.

Contrary to popular myth at the moment this would be just as true if you were a child.

The only exceptions would be if the photograph was indecent (in the legal sense) or broke the official secrets act.

If a photographer is brought into your workplace it becomes slightly more complex but this is getting off the point of this thread.

SarahShattered

I really appreciate everyone's input... and if nothing else it confirms to me that I'm not alone in being uncomfortable about it... although that's probably because I don't trust my employers.... but that's a whole other tale

I'm fascinated by the photo example ... I thought you had to sign a release form for someone to use a photo of you.
What I'd really love to see is chapter and verse of where it says you can do that.

ETA: just to clarify, it's not that I wouldn't be prepared to defend anything I've said, or that I've been unprofessional. But if I'm talking to my team, where we all understand the issues, and are impacted by the same issues, we can 'shorthand' what we want to say. Whereas if I was to raise those issues with a colleague from a different team, I would probably be more gentle/subtle with my choice of words.

However, rather than getting into justifying why I have an issue, I really just wanted to know if anyone had ay hard and fast facts about the issue of convert recording in meetings.

:beer: Cheers :beer:

judyjetson

I used to work as a court reporter, but occasionally I'd be used as a verbatim reporter for depositions, ETs, meetings, conferences, etc, and we used to take a tape recorder as a back up, as that way if my note was challenged we would have a record which could be referred back to, in the same way as we would do in court. We were never required to ask for permission/consent. We were a professional legal services company, so if it was illegal we wouldn't have done it.

Vader123

I have 3 offices across the UK and frequently use web software to have meetings saving the need to travel.

The software allows the option of recording the meeting so it can be played back, or to allow someone to view the meeting if they could not attend.

I checked with my HR guy and he said there was no problem recording it. He said it was courtesy to let everyone know.

Never had a issue.

Vader