1. Purpose of this notice

South Canterbury Genealogy Society Incorporated publishes and preserves family history, whakapapa, local history, military history, cemetery, school, church, newspaper, archive, photograph, and community research material for educational, charitable, and historical purposes.

This notice explains:

1. how we collect and use personal information, including information supplied indirectly by families, researchers, volunteers, public records, and archives
2. how we deal with images, photographs, documents, and other copyright material
3. how people may request correction, attribution, restriction, removal, or further information
4. how we respond when content may affect living people, families, rights holders, or culturally sensitive material

This is a public-facing notice. It is not legal advice. SCGS may update this notice as New Zealand privacy, copyright, archival, and charitable-sector guidance develops.

2. Who we are

South Canterbury Genealogy Society Incorporated is a New Zealand incorporated society and registered charity. Its purpose includes advancing education by supporting and enabling the community to research family histories. The Society also recognises whakapapa and family history research as part of its tikanga, kawa, culture or practice.

3. What information we may collect

SCGS may collect, hold, index, transcribe, publish, or link to information including:

• names, aliases, maiden names, service names, or spelling variants
• dates and places of birth, marriage, death, burial, residence, schooling, service, migration, or employment
• family relationships and whakapapa connections
• military service details, including service numbers, units, ranks, embarkations, honours, wounds, deaths, and memorial records
• photographs, portraits, scanned documents, letters, certificates, funeral sheets, newspaper items, cemetery records, school rolls, church records, oral histories, and donated family material
• contributor names, contact details, permissions, correspondence, source notes, and image-credit information
• website and enquiry information, including names, messages submitted through our contact form, and analytics data where enabled

4. Where information may come from

Information may be collected directly from a person, or indirectly from:

• family members, descendants, researchers, contributors, volunteers, and members
• public records, archives, libraries, museums, military databases, cemetery records, school records, church records, newspapers, published books, electoral rolls, and online indexes
• donated research collections, photographs, transcriptions, family trees, and oral histories
• publicly available websites or databases
• other organisations where the information has been lawfully shared or made available

5. Privacy Act 2020 and IPP 3A

From 1 May 2026, New Zealand’s Privacy Act 2020 includes Information Privacy Principle 3A, which applies when an agency collects personal information about an individual from someone other than that individual. In those circumstances, the agency must take reasonable steps to ensure the individual is aware of the collection and related matters, unless an exception applies.

Where SCGS collects personal information indirectly about a living person, we will take reasonable steps, where required and practicable, to make the person aware of:

• the fact that information has been collected
• the purpose for which it has been collected
• the intended recipients or public audience, if it is to be published or shared
• the name and contact details of SCGS as the collecting and holding agency
• any law or public source under which the information is collected or available
• the person’s rights to request access to, and correction of, their personal information

IPP 3A includes exceptions. These may be relevant where information is already publicly available, where notification is not reasonably practicable, where non-compliance would not prejudice the person’s interests, or where another listed exception applies.

6. Deceased people, living families, and sensitive histories

Many SCGS records concern deceased people. Even where privacy law may not apply in the same way to deceased individuals, SCGS recognises that publication can still affect living relatives, whānau, descendants, communities, and cultural groups.

We may restrict, redact, review, or remove material where it may:

• identify living people in a sensitive context
• disclose recent or private family circumstances
• affect whakapapa, adoption, parentage, or biological family-line questions
• disclose sensitive health, criminal, institutional, military, or social-history material
• cause avoidable distress or cultural harm
• breach an agreement with a donor, family, archive, or rights holder

7. Why we collect and publish historical material

SCGS collects and publishes historical and family history material to:

• preserve South Canterbury family and local history
• support education, research, remembrance, and public access
• help families identify ancestors, relatives, places, events, and records
• support community projects such as WW1, WW2, cemetery, school, church, shipping, newspaper, and archive indexes
• assist members, volunteers, researchers, descendants, and the wider public
• prevent loss of historical records and improve access to non-digital archives

8. Image, photograph, and copyright notice

SCGS uses images and documents from a range of sources, including:

• images supplied by families or contributors
• photographs taken by SCGS members or volunteers
• public-domain or out-of-copyright material
• material from archives, museums, libraries, newspapers, government sources, and public databases
• images used with permission, licence, or attribution
• images believed, after reasonable checking, to have no known copyright restrictions

In New Zealand, copyright in photographs and other artistic works generally lasts for 50 years from the end of the year in which the creator dies. Crown copyright generally lasts 100 years from the end of the year in which the work was made.

SCGS will aim to record, wherever possible:

• image source
• photographer or creator, if known
• archive, collection, donor, or contributor
• permission or licence status
• copyright status or “no known copyright restrictions” basis
• required attribution
• date of upload or publication
• any restrictions on reuse

9. Public domain, out-of-copyright, and “no known restrictions”

SCGS may use wording such as “public domain”, “out of copyright”, or “no known copyright restrictions” only where there is a reasonable basis for doing so.

Because New Zealand law does not treat every old or online image as free to use, SCGS will avoid relying on assumption alone. Where the copyright position is uncertain, SCGS may:

• seek permission
• use a lower-risk substitute image
• publish only a citation or link rather than the image itself
• restrict the image to internal research use
• add a rights statement inviting contact from rights holders
• remove the image pending clarification

10. Contributor warranties and responsibilities

Anyone who supplies images, documents, stories, biographies, transcriptions, or family material to SCGS is asked to provide material in good faith and to tell SCGS:

• where the material came from
• whether they took the photograph or created the material
• whether they own copyright or have permission to share it
• whether any living person may be identified
• whether any cultural, family, donor, archive, or publication restrictions apply
• whether attribution is required
• whether the material should not be reused outside SCGS

Supplying material to SCGS does not automatically transfer copyright to SCGS. Unless otherwise agreed, contributors retain any rights they lawfully hold, while allowing SCGS to use the material for its educational, archival, website, and society purposes.

11. Takedown, correction, and rights-holder process

SCGS wants to get things right. If you believe material on an SCGS website:

• identifies you or a family member in a way that raises privacy concerns
• contains an error
• lacks proper attribution
• uses an image, document, or text without permission
• should be restricted, corrected, credited, or removed
• includes culturally sensitive whakapapa, family, or community material

Please use our contact form.

Please include:

1. the page URL
2. the image, text, or record concerned
3. your relationship to the person, material, image, or rights issue
4. the correction, attribution, restriction, or removal requested
5. any supporting information, if available

SCGS may temporarily remove or restrict disputed material while it reviews the matter.

12. Access and correction requests

Living individuals may ask whether SCGS holds personal information about them and may request access to, or correction of, that information under the Privacy Act 2020.

SCGS may need to verify identity before releasing personal information. In some cases, SCGS may refuse or limit access where the law allows, including where disclosure would affect another person’s privacy, breach another enactment, or disclose confidential or sensitive material.

13. Reuse of SCGS material by others

Unless a page says otherwise, material on SCGS websites may not be copied, republished, uploaded to another website, used commercially, or reused in publications without checking the source and rights status.

Some items are owned by SCGS. Some are owned by contributors, families, archives, photographers, publishers, or third parties. Some may be out of copyright. Some may be linked or displayed under permission only.

Please use our contact form before reusing images, transcriptions, biographies, indexes, or downloadable files.

14. Website platforms and embedded material

SCGS may publish or manage website material through platforms including Google Drive, Google Sites, Notion, Super.so, Airtable, and other approved tools.

Some embedded content may be hosted by third-party services. Their own privacy, copyright, and platform terms may also apply.

15. Practical image clearance checklist

Before any new image goes online, SCGS should record this minimum clearance information. This is the part that protects the Society in practice, not just on paper.

Image source	Family, contributor, archive, library, newspaper, public database, SCGS collection, or other source.
Creator or photographer	Name if known. If unknown, record “unknown” rather than guessing.
Date or estimated date	Record exact or estimated creation/publication date and how that estimate was made.
Rights basis	Permission, licence, public domain, out of copyright, Crown copyright, contributor supplied, or no known restrictions.
Attribution wording	Exact wording to appear under the image or in the source footer.
Restrictions	Any limits on reuse, display, download, commercial use, or cultural sensitivity.
Reviewed by and date	Name of reviewer and date checked.

16. Interim status and legal review

This notice is an interim operational notice adopted to respond to current privacy and image-use obligations. SCGS intends to review and improve it after committee discussion and, where appropriate, legal or sector advice.