Staff at Manchester Metropolitan University (The University) often deliver meetings and lectures to colleagues, students and third parties external to the University online. On occasion these sessions are recorded. The University is the Controller in respect of any personal data processed during these sessions. This notice provides further information about the process of participating in one of these sessions, and also addresses instances where these sessions are recorded.
The personal data we process
We will always consider the privacy of the attendees and will only record online meetings and lectures where there is a recognised benefit in doing so. We will consider ways of reducing risk to your privacy and will offer alternatives where we are able.
By nature, the type of personal data will vary depending on the type of session being delivered. We will of course never record sessions of a confidential nature such as disciplinary meetings, grievances, one-to-one sessions or anything that is likely to contain sensitive information. Depending on how the meeting is held, the processing and/or recoding may include audio (via microphone) or video (via webcam footage) of the attendees and a list of all attendees including any in-meeting chat functions, which is likely considered to be personal data under data protection laws. Any contributions you make to the session may also be personal data.
Our lawful basis for processing such data will vary depending on the nature of the meeting. For example, lectures, tutorials and academic discussion groups will be run and recorded under ‘public task’ for the student attendees, and ‘contract’ for the staff member or external guest speaker delivering. Team meetings between University staff and other individuals are conducted under ‘contract’ or ‘legitimate interests’. For this reason, you will not be asked to give your formal consent prior to joining the session, even in instances where the session is being recorded. Out of courtesy, the staff member delivering the session may ask for your ‘informed consent’, but this is not required to meet the threshold of the lawful basis of consent under the data protection legislation.
Can I opt out of having my personal data recorded or processed?
If you would not like to be recorded or have certain details shared, please ensure your microphone and video camera are muted and switched off. Alternatively, if you do need to ask a question and are unable to do this anonymously during a recording (for example, through an anonymous chat message), you can ask the staff member to edit out the section where you spoke or were recorded, or ask them to pause the recording. They will consider your request, and satisfy this where it is reasonable to do so. Where the session is recorded, it is recommended that you do not contribute to the session if you would not like to be recorded or that you raise any concerns about the recording prior to the session taking place. Staff members are encouraged to offer ‘recording breaks’ in recorded sessions to allow audience members to contribute without being recorded, however, these may not always be provided.
To request erasure of a recording, please contact the recording owner (the staff member who delivered the session).
How is information stored and shared?
How the recordings are stored will depend on the platform being used by the member of staff. Meetings and lectures delivered on Microsoft Teams will be stored securely on Microsoft Stream (cloud storage). Recordings may also be stored locally on MMU’s servers (such as in Moodle, MMUtube, OneDrive or SharePoint) and shared with relevant individuals (i.e. members of the teaching class or professional team).
Recordings will be retained for as long as it is necessary in accordance with the University’s Retention and Disposal Schedule. Specifically, video content will be automatically retained on Microsoft Cloud storage for 21 days from the date of recording, after which point they will be deleted or moved to local storage for a minimum of 12 months (for example, to Stream, Moodle or MMUtube). Recordings of taught online sessions will be retained for up to the duration of the academic course in question (i.e. a maximum of 3 years from the end of the academic year in which it was recorded), and meeting content for current year plus one year.
Any information on Microsoft Chat (i.e. the messaging function available on teams) is stored for a period of 12 months; this includes messages that the poster ‘deletes’ from the feed. If you share a file through Teams, it will be stored on any linked OneDrive or SharePoint site, and retention will be managed locally by the site owner.
Micosoft act as a processor to MMU in the provision of storage solutions associated with Teams. All sharing is conducted under contract, in a manner compliant with the GDPR.
Your rights in respect of the processing
The GDPR provides data subjects with the following data subject rights:
- The right to be informed – this privacy notice assists with fulfilling these obligations.
- The right of access.
- The right to rectification.
- The right to erasure.
- The right to restrict processing
- The right to data portability
- The right to object
Please note, that these rights apply in certain circumstances, for example according to the lawful basis utilised by the University. The right of access to personal information held about you exists in order to be aware of, and verify, the lawfulness of the processing. Please use the contact information below to exercise these rights.
Contacting us
For questions or concerns about this Privacy Notice, or our use of your personal information, please contact the relevant academic member of staff in the first instance.
Our Data Protection Officer can also be contacted using [email protected], by calling 0161 247 3884 or in writing to: Data Protection Officer, Legal Services, All Saints Building, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, M15 6BH.
Right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority
You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as the supervisory authority in respect of the processing of your personal data. We would encourage you to expend our internal complaints procedure through our initial contact and the University Data Protection Officer, prior to contacting the ICO. Please contact: [email protected] or telephone: 0303 123 1113. For any further contact information please see: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/.
Updates to this privacy notice
We may update this privacy notice from time to time in response to changing legal, technical or business developments. When we update our privacy notice, we will take appropriate measures to inform you, consistent with the significance of the changes we make.