Chloe pickles

Legal and ethical considerations, codes of practice and regulations

The copyright designs and patents act first established in 1988. This was created to protect the
creator if their work gets stolen and to make sure people are named and rewarded for their work.
The types of work covered by the act are literacy e.g. song lyrics, sound and films. Before this act was
put into place individuals could not do much if their work was stolen. Currently you do not have to
apply or do anything as such as the laws of copyright are already there automatically. This law lasts
for a lifetime and then an extra 70 years once the person has died. After the 70 years has passed the
copyright is usually passed down to their ‘heirs’. Sometimes the copyright does not lie with soley the
creator but sometimes someone else. This can often be hard to track but by using primary assets
without the copyright holders permission could put you in a serious situation since you are in
violation of this copyright law. The original copyright holder is the only person who can give
permission to the reproduction of their work in any medium by any other party, this even applies if
the work is being stored electronically.

Copyright laws especially apply to images. Parties can always use stock photos, these are photos that
the original copyright owner has decided to open them up to be freely used by the public.
Sometimes rules may apply to where and when the asset can be used so it is always best to read
what the copyright holder has specified. You can actually sometimes buy the right to use a image but
this doesn’t mean you buy the copyright to the image.

For software, you can buy a software package meaning you have bought a license to use the
software legally, this means that you do not own any rights to this but you can use the software as it
is stated by the software itself. Per package bought it only contains one licence to use which can only
be used on one computer meaning f you were to share your package onto someone elses computer
and download the software then it is against the law.

Ethical considerations

When working within the media area there are rules of which you must abide by when creating a
product. This helps to protect individuals from racism, homophobia, sexism etc as this can cause
problems and offend many people. If someone finds something offensive on for example a tv
channel where more restrictions apply they may be able to sue the company for money. There are
some rules to avoid this and they are;

 You are not allowed to use an image, video or sound clip of someone you have not asked for
permission to do in advance. This may need to be written in words. This is named slander.

 You cannot speak about someone in a way that may be abusive or offensive that could ruin
their reputation. This is called libel.

 You are not allowed to use someone else’s work or even parts of their work without their
written permission as this is a copyright law.

 You must be careful when representing your product with characters or describing your
content ion a non-bias and accurate way. this will apply to;
1. Race (black, white and Asian)
2. Gender (male and female)
3. Sexuality (homosexual, heterosexual etc)
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4. Disability (able bodied and otherwise)

5. Nationality (British and otherwise)
6. Class (working, middle, upper)
7. Regionalism (north and south)
8. Age (children to older)

Gap travel must consider all the above when creating the product in order to avoid offence or libel.
Suggestion that any group, no matter their race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs,
Disability, Demographics or age, etc, are inferior to another. Breach of this may result in a
production not being shown and/or breaking of laws which have been put in place to protect groups
of people, e.g. The Race Relations Act.

Confidentiality of information – The data protection act 1998 was first introduced in March 1st 2000
and the purpose for his is to protect a person’s rights about what information is obtained, stored,
processed and disclosed.

Within my product private information about GAP travel will be completely confidential, this is t
ensure that both GAP travel and myself do not become offended in any way and that the
relationship is completely business only.

Privacy laws – privacy laws are the laws put in place to protect a individuals personal information.

Decency laws – this is when someone deliberately exposes themselves within the public eye with
parts of their body. For example a image is used on a page about visiting a beach and the image used
features a woman topless. This is called “indecent exposure”.

To ensure I am not creating a product that may be liable for indecent exposure I will make sure my
content within the product is acceptable and does not contain any types of text/images/videos etc
that may be offensive within that matter.

Libel laws – if someone was to make a false statement that could harm a individual or organisation,
they could be sued for libel.

When creating the multimedia product for GAP travel, I will take into consideration that making false
aqusations about someone or a company will mean I and GAP travel could be sued. This could be me
for example saying that another company that offers the same types of trips takes clients money and
does not organize the trips. This would be a false statement and it would offend and harm the
organisation therefor I and GAP travel would be sued.

Codes of practice and regulations

Media companies usually undertake pre-production work to make sure that all codes of practice,
laws and regulations fit within what they are producing.
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Ofcom – the Office Of Communications (OFCOM) is a “government approved regulatory and

competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United
kingdom.”

Ofcom holds powers across television, telecoms and postal sectors. Ofcom is where a indepedent
body would go created to protect all laws within communication. Complaints about anything related
to communications media etc can be sent to Ofcom for investigation. Ofcom handle many aspects of
media such as false advertising, race etc.

ASA – Advertising Standards Association (ASA) the ASA is put in place to ensure advertisements are
not false, misleading or harmful. They are constantly checking advertisements for such contents and
act upon any complaints received.

BIMA – British Interactive Media Association (BIMA) provides support for individuals or
organisations who create high quality, innovative, interactive media products.

Classifications
BBFC
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The British Board Of Film Classification. The BBFC has been

classifying videos since 1912.Their main purpose is to educate
people on the content that some music videos use. They also work
to improve child protection within the internet. Big companies like
vevo, youtube work with BBFC to make music videos have a age restriction on them so that they can
protect children from viewing things that may be deceived as inappropriate for their viewing. On 18
August 2015, the Government also announced that independent UK music labels will take part in a
further six-month phase of the pilot.

The ratings appear on Vevo online and on YouTube before viewing the actual video you must give
the site permission that you are of the correct age, both online and on smart phone Apps.

When watching a video on Vevo the age will show up at the top corner of
the screen for a few seconds. When you move the cursor the age rating will
also appear again and you can also go on the information where the age will
be stated clearly.

Youtube also used the BBFC criteria, for example when you click to watch a
age restricted video you have to either sign in and say that you are of the
coreset age or you cannot view the video.

There are different options of classification and these are U, PG,

12, 12A, 15, 18 AND R18. Movi3es, videos, games and music videos
are all classified.

The classification U means that it is universal meaning that virtually

anyone can view it. However, the actual criteria is that a U rated
video is aimed at those above the age of 4, this means some people
can find it difficult to follow this criteria.

PG stands for parental guidance meaning that for a child under the
age of around 8 should be accompanied by a parent when viewing.

For something classified as a 12 this means that no one below the

age of 12 can view the content. However if something is classified a
age 12A this means that someone who is not 12 can view he film if
they are accompanied with someone who is a adult. This could be
something like a family film with a swearing film in it.
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When something is classified as a 15 this means that anyone who is below the age of 15 will not be
aloud to view the content at all. This could be content that views some nudity, offensive language or
violence.

For something classified as a 18 this means that the content may have full nudity, a high level of
violence and offensive language. Nobody under the age of 18 will be allowed to view this content at
all.

When something is classified as a R18 this means that it cannot be shown to the public, meaning
that if anyone wanted to sell this material they would need a special license to do so.

Clearances – copyright clearance is when a person gains the permission to use certain copywritten
material. A person will do this by writing up a letter and sending it to the copyright holder stating
what material they would like to use and what the user’s intentions with the
material is. If the person’s letter is not specific enough they may be ignored
as it needs to be clear what the material is being used for so that the holder
can know exactly what their work will be used for. Sometimes the holder
may not reply to the person which means the person will not be able to use
the material and may have to find a alternative.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=confidentiality+of+information+act&oq=confidentiality+of+info
rmation+&gs_l=psy-ab.3.0.0l4.33402.33820.0.36049.4.4.0.0.0.0.115.363.3j1.4.0....0...1.1.64.psy-
ab..0.4.360...0i22i30k1j33i22i29i30k1.0.3fW1KyNEX_s

https://www.bima.co.uk

https://www.asa.org.uk/codes-and-rulings/rulings.html
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