Copyright And
Ownership
The website declares that "Shetland News Agency" owns all content found on the
site. The copyright statement protects the content against unauthorised "reproduction,
retrieval, copying or transmission of the content….without the publisher's prior
consent". http://www.shetland-news.co.uk/pages/disclaimer.htm
Privacy And
Data Protection
The Shetland news site offers users the possibility to receive news updates
by email so naturally this service requires a list of user email addresses.
The site is privately financed and contributions are encouraged, based on the
set up of the Shetland news site email addresses and/or residential addresses
must be disclosed by the user to perform these transactions. There is no formal
mention of how long such data will be held or if this data will be passed on
to a third party. Legally such data should not be shared with anyone without
the individual's permission.
The site contains
an archive of past news articles that may contain an individual personal details.
Newspaper and journalistic sites have several exceptions regarding the publication
of ones personal data as this enforcing the data protection act on journalists
would choke the freedom of the press. With this in mind the Shetland news can
publish a person's information and hold information previously published in
an archive for publication purposes. This exception is also linked to the "consumer
interest" in certain stories. http://www.pcc.org.uk/news/index.html?article=ODg
Disabled Access
The site fairs quite well in terms of disabled access with pages containing
simple HTML that can be enlarged easily by the browser. Hot keys are not implemented
requiring the mouse be used to access links. Alternatively the tab button will
select each link in a sequence but this is a very ineffective way of navigating
through the site.
Sound is not used on the site and so is not an issue.
Consumer Protection
Regarding this site there is no need that consumers be protected as there is
no consumer element for users of this site, the site is purely a reference site.
Users are encouraged to contribute to the site in order to prolong the life
of the site. This option is done via other methods such as; pay pal, cheque
or standing order.
Geographical
Jurisdiction
Based in the Shetland isles this site will come under the jurisdiction of Scottish
law although this is not stated by the site.