Danielle documented her transition to another gender through hormone replacement therapy via a video journal and published it on YouTube under the Standard YouTube License.
Images from her videos, along with those of other trans individuals, were used to train a facial recognition software, and they were featured in the associated scientific publication. The video data from this publication was made available to other researchers through a Dropbox link.
Danielle was not informed about the use of her video material in this study and its dissemination, and she would have never consented to it. She and the trans community fear significant discriminatory consequences if trans individuals could be identified through facial recognition in the future.

In research projects involving socially sensitive topics, and data material or personal data, an ethics committee should be consulted in the planning phase. This committee will conduct an impact assessment and, among other things, provide recommendations for extensive measures to protect involved individuals and the concerning communities, or even advise against a specific study.
The reuse, publication and sharing of copyrighted data requires a usage/license agreement between the copyright holder and the data users.
When processing personal data, informed consent must be obtained from the individuals concerned, and comprehensive data protection regulations must be observed. To the extent possible, this data should be anonymized or aggregated and made accessible to third parties only through suitable access restrictions, such as certified and specialized repositories by the means of data usage agreements.