Unit Web site Guidelines (FROM NATIONAL)

We've long recognized that unit sites created by individuals at the unit level of Scouting are essentially personal, and therefore beyond the National Council’s control or liability. We do offer advisory guidelines to those who publish Scouting-related sites on their own responsibility, and we urge local councils to take the same approach. These guidelines are established to help avoid several common mistakes.
Protection of personal information pertaining to our youth members and volunteers should be our greatest concern. This organization has used COPPA, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, as its standard in this area. You can read the details on compliance at http://www.coppa.org/comply.htm. It would be a good practice to share them with unit-level publishers in your council.

A second concern about individual unit sites is copyright infringement. Sadly, photos, music, and video are commonly reused on the Web without permission. Plagiarism is also common. Such practices violate the ethics of Scouting. They are also violations of law, and could expose the publishers legally.

Our third concern is commercialism. We don't allow ads on council sites. We recognize that "free" Web services often used to create unit-level sites may contain advertising. This practice may reflect poorly on the Scouting brand, and should be avoided. A more serious concern would be sites that engage in any fund-raising activities not previously approved by their local council. Any independent sales, solicitation, OR collection of donations is prohibited by our bylaws and charter agreements.

 - The content of the unit site must be appropriate to the Scouting movement.
 - The unit site cannot link to any sites that contain material that is not appropriate to the Scouting movement.
 - The unit site should not contain any advertisements or commercial endorsements.
 - The unit site cannot engage in the electronic sale of BSA Supply Division merchandise or competing products.
 - The unit site cannot replicate any BSA publication currently for sale through the Supply Division.
 - Unit sites must abide by all laws regarding copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property, and by those pertaining to the Internet.
 - Unit sites must consider the safety and privacy of their members and participants by obtaining the necessary permissions to release information about or images of any individual.
 - Unit sites cannot engage in fund-raising except as directly approved by, and under the supervision of, the local council.

The use of email addresses is for official Troop 44 business only. Troop 44 members, leaders, parents and others will hold email and email addresses in the highest regards.  Additionally email addresses shall not be used for distribution of socio-political or religious propaganda nor shall it be used for the distribution of chain letters, petitions, or items that do not meet the standards of Scouting.

Troop 44 Privacy Statement and General Web Policy

The purpose of this site is to provide information for Troop 44 members, the  local community and the scouting community worldwide.  Information regarding to an individual Scout, a Scouts progress within the program, or status is not able to be provided without the consent of the Scout parent as identified on his scouting application. 

We have taken extensive measures to fully comply with all  Minsi Trails Council  and National Council guidelines on website content, all National Scouting Guidelines and The U.S. House of Representatives Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

Compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998 Title 15, Chapter 91

This legislation applies only to Web sites of a commercial nature. However, the Boy Scouts of America along with the Troop considers it to provide sound advice for any Web site that is intended for use by children.

Therefore, Troop 44 does not use its Web site to collect any personally identifiable information from any children while COPPA specifies children as under 13 years of age. While this site has no pages that require user input, any input from a request of personally identifiable information on an interface that is expected to be viewed by children under 13 years of age is accompanied by a notice that submissions cannot be accepted from users under 13 years of age. Where "age" or "date of birth" is requested.  In this case, no information would be stored or transmitted unless the response indicates that the user is 13 years of age or older.

Providing personal information is never a prerequisite for accessing any of the content or resources on this Web site. Specifically, refusal to provide personal information via a Web interface will never result in a user being denied access to any on-line content or resource he would be able to access were the information submitted.

Parental Consent

Parental consent is required for any information about your son to be included on this web site.  Photographs of our Scouting adventures, meetings, and activities are included when appropriate.   In these instances, they are images of the activities that represent Scouting at its best.  No names will be added to photograph details or captions unless written permission is given.

Consent forms are available at all Troop 44 meetings.

Under no circumstances will Troop 44 post youth e-mail, phone number, or address.

User Information Collection

This website does not collect any information from visitors directly or indirectly thru any measure to include information about the user's remote IP address, referral data (which page "linked" to the present request), and the browser software's user-agent string.  Pop-up ads are also not permitted on our website.

Please contact the Webmaster with any questions or concerns.