Help
General Protect The Human questions
- What is Protect The Human?
- What's the difference between this and the Amnesty UK site?
- What are the rules for using Protect The Human?
- Do I have to be an Amnesty member to join Protect The Human?
- Someone is harassing me, what can I do?
- I find something some content on the site really offensive; who can I talk to about it?
- I am a journalist and I want to speak to someone about Protect the Human
- Is this the place to get Protect the Human Party kits?
- How do I report a bug?
- Defamation
- Privacy
- Intellectual Property
- Extremist or encouraging violent or illegal activity
- Obscene, pornographic, sexually explicit
- Hateful, abusive, threatening or harassing or which causes discomfort
- Discriminatory
- Crude, vulgar or offensive
- 'off topic'
- Report abuse on our Sites
- How do I upload my photos?
- How do I share photos?
- How do I upload or embed a video?
- How do I share a video?
- What is bookmarking?
- What can I bookmark into Protect The Human?
- What is the Post to Protect The Human tool?
- How do I install the Post to Protect The Human tool?
- What are tags?
- Is there a limit on the number of tags I can use?
- Why do I have to tag my content at least once?
- Do I have to complete my profile?
- Can I change my screen name?
- Can I change my profile image?
- I am having trouble signing in. What can I do?
- Can I use the same sign in as my account with Amnesty.org.uk or blogs.amnesty.org.uk?
- Why do you ask if I am over/under 18?
Getting updates from the site (RSS feeds)
- How can I play my part in making this a human-rights-based community that is safe for everyone aged 14+?
- If you are under 18
- How does ‘flag as inappropriate’ work?
- As a child /parent / teacher, I am concerned that some of the content labeled as suitable for under 18s is not. Who can I speak to?
- Parental permission for content created by or featuring under 18 year olds
- How do I contact Amnesty Child Protection Officer?
- How old do I have to be to use this site?
General Protect The Human questions
What is Protect The Human?
This is a site from Amnesty International UK dedicated to making it easier and more fun for a community of people who care about human rights to share news and resources, communicate with each other and generally make the world a better place.
What's the difference between this and the Amnesty UK site?
Amnesty.org.uk remains the main site for Amnesty International in the UK. If you want to get the latest reports, join Amnesty or contact the organisation, this remains the place to go. Non-UK visitors should go to www.amnesty.org to find the right site for their country.
Protect The Human is a community space we have created to allow everyone to discuss issues relating to human rights by sharing bookmarks, photos and videos and then taking actions.
What are the rules for using Protect The Human?
If there were only one rule, it would be: show your fellow user some respect. In fact there are quite a few rules and you can read them all in our terms and conditions.
Do I have to be an Amnesty member to join Protect The Human?
No. Becoming an active member of the Protect The Human is a great way to do something about human rights and that might be exactly how far you want to go. Obviously, we'd be delighted if you also wanted to join Amnesty International but it is not a requirement to use the site.
Someone is harassing me, what can I do?
We take bullying and all forms of harassment very seriously. You can contact us using our form and ask us to investigate. If it turns out that someone has been harassing another user, we reserve the right to delete that person's account.
I find something some content on the site really offensive; who can I talk to about it?
All content pages on the site have a link that lets you flag the page as 'inappropriate'. Click the link that says 'Flag as inappropriate'. This page will then be investigated by the Protect the Human team promptly.
I am a journalist and I want to speak to someone about Protect the Human
In the first instance, all media inquiries should be sent to our media team, who will be pleased to find the correct person for you to speak to.
Is this the place to get Protect the Human Party kits?
No, you should go to http://www.amnesty.org.uk/protect for all you might need to know about Protect The Human week.
How do I report a bug?
Just drop in on our contact us page and let us know what the problem is and we'll try and fix it right away.
Freedom of speech is a vital freedom which we at Amnesty have a long history of supporting. However, with free speech comes responsibility. If free speech is to flourish there has to be respect on all sides of any debate. We would ask that you respect those that you are in contact with on our site and those that you talk about. Obviously feelings can run high in a debate but always ask yourself if it is fair for you to make the comments that you are making. We take abuse on our Sites very seriously. To help you to understand what we consider abusive behaviour, we have provided the explanation below.
Defamation
A “defamatory statement” is any material or content which harms a person’s or an organisation’s reputation exposing them to hatred, ridicule or contempt; by causing them to be shunned; by members of society thinking less of them or by disparaging them in their profession or trade.
Individuals can sue for defamation, and companies can sue for injury to their trading reputation. In addition, groups of identifiable individuals can sue for defamation, for example clubs and interest groups. If you disparage an organization or a Government the individual responsible for the part of the organization defamed may be able to take an action.
As author of the defamatory statement you may be sued. You will want to avoid this so there are some important things to take into account. The first is are you saying what you mean to? Regardless of whether you intend to or not, if a statement is understood by a reasonable person to be defamatory, you will be liable for defamation. A statement that is apparently innocent may carry an inference that is defamatory, so be extra careful that what you write cannot be interpreted to be defamatory when you didn't mean it to be. Even if a statement seems innocent on the surface, it's possible that it could be interpreted as defamatory to those with special knowledge, so be careful, as innuendo may be defamatory. Just because you are quoting someone else's words does not mean it is safe. You can be sued for repeating a defamatory statement. Even if you are quoting a published work, it is possible that the publisher was sued when they published it, or it is possible that it slipped by unnoticed. Whatever the case, it is not safe to repeat it. As far as the law is concerned, each publication is a fresh publication of the defamation and can be sued upon.
The two main defences to any claim for defamation are Justification (truth – but truth that you can prove in a court of law) and Fair Comment (an honest opinion based on true facts). Both these defences rely on the facts underlying the statement being true. Can you show this? If you can then cite the underlying source of the facts.
Privacy
The right to privacy is a human right and as an organisation dedicated to the support of human rights, we will not tolerate our Sites being used to breach the privacy of others. For example, you should not upload a photograph or personal, private or confidential information of someone other than yourself, and particularly a child, without the consent of the person in question and, if they are under 18, the consent of their parent or guardian.
Intellectual Property
The content which we provide on our Sites, such as images, text and videos, is protected by intellectual property rights, including copyright. You must not therefore use the content on any of our Sites for any purpose other than your own personal non-commercial use. For example, you should not copy and use the content on any of our Sites elsewhere, such as on another website.
You must not submit any content (such as images, text or videos) to our Sites which is not your own original work or which you do not have a right to make available to others. If you do not own the rights to the content which you submit to our Sites, you may be infringing the rights of the owner of the content which could lead to legal action being taken against you.
Extremist or encouraging violent or illegal activity
You must not use our Sites to express the opinions of any extremist or terrorist political party or philosophy and/or which advocate or encourage violence or towards any person, group of people or damage to property.
Obscene, pornographic, sexually explicit
You must not submit to any of our Sites any image, video or text which features any sexual activity or nudity of any adult or child.
Hateful, abusive, threatening or harassing or which causes discomfort
Our Sites are intended to provide a community for like-minded people who wish to share their concern for the protection of human rights. We will therefore not tolerate our Sites being used as a means of intimidating others in any way or to causing them to fear for the safety or well-being of themselves or their families. You may not realise that you are intimidating people but you must consider the effect of what you are doing on the person receiving the message. Thus you must not keep contacting people who are not responding, ask the same question again and again, ridicule or threaten.
Discriminatory
We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with respect regardless of their circumstances. You must therefore not use our Sites to express any opinion or submit any content which shows disregard for others on the grounds of race, gender, sexuality, religion, nationality or mental or physical handicap.
Crude, vulgar or offensive
We will not tolerate the use of swear words or language which is sexually explicit in nature. The use of symbols or asterisks in swear words will not be regarded as an acceptable means of getting around this rule.
'off topic'
Some of the blog pages or discussion areas on our Sites will be dedicated to a particular subject, such as a campaign that we are running or a human rights issue. The subject may either be determined by us or by another user. Out of respect for those people who are using the blog page or discussion board to express their views on a given subject, you must not express views or submit content which do not relate to the subject at hand.
Report abuse on our Sites
If you discover behaviour or content on any of our Sites that is abusive, illegal, or otherwise breaches our Terms and Conditions , please contact us using the contact form provided on the ‘Contact Us’ page of the relevant Site or email our Supporter Care Team at sct@amnesty.org.uk.
How do I upload my photos?
To upload your photos, go to the Galleries page and ‘Create a new gallery’. You’ll then be able to name that gallery, give it some tags so others can find it and populate it with as many pictures as you like.
How do I share photos?
If you see a gallery with photos in it you would like to send to your friends, use the ‘Share it’ button under the gallery and your friends will get an email link to the page.
How do I upload or embed a video?
Go to the Video page and click the ‘Add a video’ button in the right hand side. You’ll be asked to give some information about the video and then copy and paste the embed code from YouTube or confirm that you are the owner of the video if it is an upload. Embedding is when the video is already on another site like YouTube and you are just copying some code to show it on our site (see the image on the right). Uploading is when you are actually sending up a file from your own computer.
If it is an upload, the first thing to check is that your video is less than 10 minutes long and 60MB in size. If your video is very large, you may well be able to save or export a more compressed version using your normal video editing software. We can only accept video in the following formats: Quicktime (.mov), .MPEG 4 (.mp4) and Windows media Files( .wmv). The preferred set up is a screen size of 640 x 360 (widescreen) or 640 x 480 (non-widescreen).
Please make sure the video is actually all yours and does not belong to a TV show, a movie, your next-door neighbour or contain a soundtrack from a commercial artist. Even if it is hilarious. Sorry, but it’s illegal to share content that isn’t yours to start with. And yes, sometimes that is no fun at all but please keep us all out of trouble and stick to stuff that you shot or made.
Once you have your video ready and saved on your hard drive, go to the Video tab at the top of the page and then click the ‘Create video’ link in the top right hand corner of the page. Fill in the text boxes and upload the video.
Now make sure everyone knows that it is there…
How do I share a video?
Just click the ‘Share it’ button under the video, add your friend’s email address and name and send them a link to the page.
What is bookmarking?
Bookmarking is a way to add links to great sites and the latest news right in the heart of the Protect The Human site for everyone to see. You can do them one by one from the link on the right hand side of the ‘Bookmarks‘ section or use the bookmark gadget (see below).
What can I bookmark into Protect The Human?
Lots of stuff really. If you have seen anything broadly interesting to a community of people concerned with human rights, this is the place to share it. Obviously, there’ll be lots of news and campaigning sites, there may also be a few golden oldies that are always worth a visit. There may even be things that just raise a smile. All we ask is that it is suitable for a site that has people as young as 14 using it and that it does not violate the terms and conditions.
Why is bookmarking content important to Protect The Human?
If you see something that’s wrong, you want to tell people about it. What if the people you tell are the kind of people who tell others? Very soon a lot of people will be aware of something and at that stage governments, the media and other organizations take notice. This is step one in making a change.
What is the Post to Protect The Human tool?
Basically, this little bobby dazzler, means that wherever you roam to on the web, if you see something of interest to the wider Protect The Human community, you can share it with a couple of quick clicks of the wrist.
How do I install the Post to Protect The Human tool?
For many users, it will be enough to visit the Install the bookmarking gadget page and drag the icon to your tool bar of links. If that doesn’t work straight away, you may need to read the instructions for your browser on the page. Don’t worry it is not that complicated.
What are tags?
Tags are quick descriptions that you add to content to help you find it again and to let everyone else know what it is about. They are a bit like keywords. So a video animation about human rights in China might have tags like: China, torture, Olympics, animation, etc.
Is there a limit on the number of tags I can use?
No, but half a dozen should cover most cases pretty well.
Why do I have to tag my content at least once?
Tags help everyone find your lovely content and make sure we can add actions and other useful stuff to it.
Do I have to complete my profile?
No. We need your email address so you can sign in and out and a screen name to refer to you. Apart from that, adding an image and telling the site about your interests just makes everything work better for you. You look better, sound more interesting and may smell fresher.
Can I change my screen name?
No, for technical reasons, it is not possible for users to change their screen names. If you have to choose a new screen name, log out and register again with a different email address.
Can I change my profile image?
Yes, any time. If you are under 18, please take care not to use a picture that can connect you to a particular place like outside your school or a public place you hang out in.
I am having trouble signing in. What can I do?
The first thing to do is just to check you have entered the right details. It’s surprisingly easy to mistype your email address or password. And let’s just say that if you left CAPS LOCK on your keyboard, you wouldn’t be the first. (Email addresses and passwords are case-sensitive).
You must also use the same email address you used when you first signed-up, could you have signed in with a different address?
If you have forgotten your password, we will send you a new, temporary password, which you can change at your own convenience. This password will be sent to the email address you used when you originally signed up. You need to go to our ‘Reset your password’ page and enter your email address first though.
Can I use the same sign in as my account with Amnesty.org.uk or blogs.amnesty.org.uk?
Yes, we have designed the log in so that once you have signed up for any of these sites you are signed up for all. Just use the same log-in detail (email and password).
Why do you ask if I am over/under 18?
We want to protect younger users in particular and we can only do this if we know that a user is under 18.
Getting updates from the site (RSS feeds)
How do I get updates from Protect The Human? (set up RSS feeds)
Look for the site RSS links 
on the bottom of many pages. These tell you that you can subscribe to the page and find out if anything has changed. Most people use an RSS or News Reader to scan through RSS feeds.
You can find out more about RSS and News Readers at Wikipedia. If you have no idea what we are on about, don’t worry, you can still use the site perfectly well without ever finding out about RSS.
How can I play my part in making this a human-rights-based community that is safe for everyone aged 14+?
This site is post-moderated by a community manager and a team of online community child protection moderators. Amnesty also asks you to play your part by:
- Using the ‘flag as inappropriate’ to let us know if you see any behaviour or content that rings alarm bells
- Only adding content to the site that is suitable for people aged 14+
- Not adding images to the site which portray anyone in vulnerable or sexualised positions or ones which could be misused in another context
- Listen to your gut instinct. If someone is asking for private information about you, inviting you to private online spaces, trying to get to know you offline or something just doesn’t feel right, use the ‘flag as inappropriate’ button and we’ll investigate;
- Choose a screen-name that people can't identify you by. So ClaireFrancis15 would not be good but SkyLight54 would be (unless Sky Light is your real name);
- Please also use a group screen-name if you set up an online group for your Amnesty youth group
- Don’t disclose personal details like your real name, school name, address, telephone number, email address, Instant Messenger ID, personal website or anything else that is private about you;
- Be very careful about photos and videos of you and your friends. If they can be used to identify you, where you go to school or where you live, then please don’t upload them. Does the photo show you or anyone else in a vulnerable position (handcuffed, caged, etc) that could be used out of context? Again, keep yourself safe and don't add them to the site.
Want to find out more about being safe and keeping other people safe online? The NSPCC site is good if you are under-18 yourself and Think You Know is good for parents and teachers.
How does ‘flag as inappropriate’ work?
Click this link if you see any content, conduct or contact information on the site that you think is inappropriate – this is a site for everyone aged 14+ and this is how we are asking everyone to behave to keep it safe. This will flag up the content to our moderators, who will then take appropriate action.
Amnesty is committed to making our best effort to take down inappropriate content as soon as possible
If you would like information about what action has been taken please contact the Protect the Human team.
Alternatively you can report inappropriate content or conduct involving young people directly to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP)
If you are distressed by your experience on the site, contact Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 for 24hr, confidential, non-judgemental emotional support or Childline on 0800 1111.
As a child /parent / teacher, I am concerned that some of the content labeled as suitable for under 18s is not. Who can I speak to?
In the first instance, you should speak to Amnesty's Child Protection Officer. You can call her on 020 7033 1500 (office hours switchboard), on 07795 662033 (out of hours mobile) or email her.
Parental permission for content created by or featuring under 18 year olds
Please always get parental permission before uploading content by under-18 year olds or of under-18 year olds.
How do I contact Amnesty Child Protection Officer?
In the first instance, you should speak to Amnesty's Child Protection Officer. You can call her on 020 7033 1500 (office hours switchboard), on 07795 662033 (out of hours mobile) or email her.
How old do I have to be to use this site?
You can be a member of Amnesty if you are aged 14 and above, and this site is part of our commitment to ensuring all of our materials are appropriate for all of our members. If you are under 14 you cannot be a member of this site but you can join our Youth Urgent Action network (for 11-18 year olds) or our Junior Urgent Action network (for 7 - 11 year olds).
