This is the second in a series about enhancing data privacy and controls in Workspace, especially in relation to GDPR. If you haven’t read our previous posts, start here.

In today's post we discuss the privacy settings for Workspace online galleries, what each privacy setting means, and the changes we’ve made to ensure that your clients' data rights are protected.

Photographs are considered to be personal data and are therefore subject to the rules about data protection. So if, like most photographers, you publish peoples' images in online galleries, or in sample albums and other promotional materials, you must have their explicit permission to do so. You need to be particularly careful with children or sensitive subject matter (eg nudity).

As a hosting platform we expect you, the photographer, to gather the necessary permissions before you publish public image galleries in Workspace.

Workspace's three privacy settings

Private: Always asks users for a password to view the images. Unlike Semi-Private it does not display a feature image.  You can change a collection's privacy setting at any time, but in future all galleries will default to the Private setting. Note: Workspace remembers the password for future sessions until the cookie expires (next day) or the user clears the browser cache.

Semi-Private: Asks new users for a password unless they have a direct link to the gallery, whether sent by you or shared by (for example) your client. Semi-Private displays a "feature image" on your Workspace image gallery home page but the other images can only be viewed if the user has a direct link, or the password.

Public: Opens directly to the images without requiring a direct link or password — so for example, any user can click the link on your image gallery home page and open the collection to view.

How collections with different privacy settings display on your website gallery page:

Private: No feature image, requires a password.

Semi-Private: Displays a feature image, requires a password the first time they login.

Public: Displays a feature image, no password required, opens the gallery directly. 

How to change the privacy status:

Click on the blue link in the collection settings to change. When you change the privacy setting to public you will be asked to confirm that you have permission to display the images publicly.