Zoom recording of sessions policy

Requirements for Hosts

Scope

These requirements refer to the obligations of meeting hosts when recording video calls, conferences, teaching, online meetings and other presentation sessions using UTS-provided software, such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Kaltura Capture. These requirements cover the recording of the primary session only.

These requirements do not cover:

• The approved recording by students as part of agreed accessibility arrangements with Accessibility Services.
• The pre-recording of online sessions where there are no participants other than the host, for the purpose of making the sessions available online after the event.
• Recording of sessions by participants for personal use.
• Recording of ‘breakout room’ sessions which are separate from the meeting.

Purpose

When working or studying remotely, participants are often in private locations. A recording may capture personal information about the participant and others who may come into view and be incidentally captured. Essentially, anytime you make a recording that captures audio and/or video of other individuals, you are collecting personal information.

These requirements are designed to ensure you, as a host who controls the recording of an online session, are meeting the various obligations that will apply to you and the university, under various privacy, telecommunications and surveillance legislation.

Requirements when recording online sessions

1. Staff should only use university-approved platforms for web conferencing and conducting virtual teaching, and ensure that the selected settings are correct. Zoom and Microsoft Teams are the only ITU-supported software used to produce recordings. The Lx.Lab provides support for use of Kaltura Capture.
2. As the host, you must only record an online session where there is a genuine business need. A “genuine business need” may include recordings to support teaching activities, accessibility support, or to allow for the transcription of meeting notes where a recording may in itself not be accessed other than for that purpose.

A key question to ask, is whether the session would still have been video recorded if the meeting was conducted in a face-to-face mode.  

3. All participants must be clearly informed of the following BEFORE recording starts. It is recommended that a web link to these requirements is placed in the meeting invite:
   1. That the session is being recorded and why it’s being recorded e.g for students to revisit a lecture during the session, or for those who missed their lecture, to transcribe minutes for meetings. Note when a session is to be recorded, a window will be displayed to all participants informing them of this and offering the option to ‘leave’ the meeting if they chose not to participate. Session hosts should also inform participants that a recording is being performed.
   2. Who will have access to the recording and for how long?
   3. If there any alternatives if anyone doesn’t want to be recorded. Hosts should consider only recording the host and the presentation (audio and video) and not the participant windows.
   4. Participants are not permitted to copy or share the recording with anyone else.
   5. Whether the recording will be paused for individual questions and/or ‘private’ discussion with participants.
   6. Whether session ‘chat’ will also be shared.
4. Participants should be allowed time to adjust their setting before the recording commences e.g. turning off their audio and/or video, blur or apply a virtual background etc.
5. Where you know in advance that you will be recording a session(s), it is strongly recommended that you also make this explicitly clear in advance. For example, this can be specified in subject information at the start of session, included in workshops and training session information, and specified in meeting invites.
6. You can reduce the impact on individual privacy even if people chose to participate in a recorded session, by the following methods:
   1. Consider only recording the host’s video and audio in the session. For example, Zoom ‘settings’ allows this and the host can configure these at an individual meeting level.
   2. By not identifying or refer to participants by full name or by other means that allow identification during the recording. Recordings can be configured to hide participants by configuring to ‘record active speaker,’ however hiding participants is difficult to configure. See ServiceConnect Knowledge Article on how to do this.
   3. Allow participants to ask questions without identifying themselves. For example, they can pose the question in chat and the host can read it and respond.
   4. Pause a recording if an unexpected incident occurs, or where a session discussion shifts to something of a personal nature at any point that was not the intended purpose. Zoom and Microsoft Teams allow simple pausing and restarting of recordings (multiple times during a meeting). The Lx.lab can provide assistance to staff should they wish to edit their session recording.  Zoom and Teams recordings are published manually by the meeting host.
7. Any copy you make of the recording is to be securely stored on university-approved systems and platforms for access only by those who are permitted access. Note that it is possible to record to the local PC running the Zoom or Microsoft Teams session. If this is enabled, it is the session host's responsibility to remove these recording files from the local PC once published. Note, Zoom recording to local machines is not possible due to a system configuration setting currently set globally at UTS, however this may not be the case for other recording software.
8. If another purpose for a recording is considered, or it may be more widely distributed, the recording must not contain any personal information, such as participant faces or voices. This includes consideration of copyright if access may be provided to external parties.
9. Unless a recording is required as evidence, or is a public event, they are considered facilitative, or short term records. They need to be deleted permanently once no longer required for the purpose they are being recorded for. For example, lectures may only need to be retained until the end of the relevant semester/session, or for meeting after the information is transcribed etc.  Access can be shared with participants and it is the host of the Zoom meeting who is responsible for archiving or deleting older recordings. Links sent to hosts for Zoom and Microsoft Teams recordings allow the recording to be retrieved. Zoom and Teams recording files will be automatically deleted after a predetermined time, or when limited storage reaches capacity (this period may be as short as two weeks). 
10.  Note that public events and webinars, or some meetings which are not transcribed, may have longer retention as records of the university. Consult with University Records for advice.
11. If recording an online session, the host must ensure they comply with copyright requirements in relation to the material being used. For teaching and learning activities, a copyright statement relating to teaching materials provided in course material also applies to recordings.
12. There are many external websites such as the Australian Disability Clearinghouse on Education and Training (ADCET) that provide useful information relating to accessibility and satisfying the needs of students with special needs and disabilities. The UTS Accessibility Services intranet site (UTS credentials are required) is a great starting point. Note that recordings placed on learning platforms should meet WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) requirements to ensure they are accessible for all students. If there are complex access requirements needed beyond these standards that is when UTS Accessibility Services should be involved.