Advice for personal and unit Web sites
To assist local councils in providing guidance to individuals who
wish to operate Web sites on behalf of their Scouting units, the National
Council is providing the information below, which addresses a few key items
pertaining to personal Web sites. While this is not a comprehensive guide,
it covers some of the most important concerns. Councils should review their
own guidelines for unit Web sites to ensure these key topics are addressed.
This information should not be construed as an authorization for private
individuals to operate Web sites of behalf of the Boy Scouts of America. It
does not indicate councils are required to link to unit sites, nor does it
supercede any guidelines or policies that any local council has developed
for its own units.
NOTE: Unit Webmasters should contact their local councils
for policies and procedures pertaining to the use of the Internet for
promoting and supporting Scouting units.
Advice for personal and unit Web sites
While units and members act as private individuals when communicating
with the public, the National Council provides the following advice for
those who use the Internet to promote and support their units or to
communicate to the public about Scouting:
- Decorum
- Scouters should exercise propriety and good taste. Remember
that the Internet (including Web sites, chat rooms, bulletin
boards, and even e-mail messages) is a public medium. Your
conduct reflects not only on yourself and your unit, but
also on the entire Scouting movement whenever the audience
knows you are a Scouter.
- Personal Safety
- While most Internet users are honest, there is a criminal
element that seeks information as a way to gain access to
victims. For that reason, be especially careful about
providing any personal information—names, e-mail
addresses, phone numbers, etc. Always get written permission
before posting personal information about adult volunteers,
and never publish personal information about youth
members. If you display or post images of adult and youth
members invoived in Scouting activities on your Web site,
you should first obtain written permissions from the adults
and the parents or guardians of any youth members.
Here is some suggested language
you can use.
- Legal Issues
- Myriad federal and state laws govern publishing in any medium,
including the Internet—copyright infringement, privacy of
information, defamation, etc. You should familiarize yourself
with these laws so you can ensure that the information you
publish doesn't create any legal problems for you or your
chartered organization. Key among these legal issues are
that (1) you should never collect personal information about
youth members over the Internet, and (2) you should never
reproduce or display on your Web sites content from some other
source without written permission.
- BSA Policies and Procedures
- All policies and procedures that apply to any activity are
still in effect when that activity is conducted on the Internet.
For example, any online recruiting must be done in accordance
with policies and procedures that govern offline recruiting.
In addition to these general guidelines, local councils may develop their
own more detailed guidelines for unit Web sites. Local councils may require
units to meet council guidelines for their sites to be recognized (linked)
from the local council's own Web site.
