Unit 78-Assignment 2-Legal and Ethical considerations

Legal-Copyright
Copyright is a property right that subsists in a number of works. It is not necessary to
register copyright it arises automatically. The copyright work must be in a material form,
however, in order to be protected - copyright is not a right in ideas, it protects the
expression of an idea.
The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 gives authors certain economic and moral
rights in their works. The copyright was introduced to make sure people are rewarded for
their hard work and to give protection if their personal work is stolen. Before this law act,
there was no protection over any stolen work, even if you did claim it as your own. This law
still continues and is be used on necessary cases. It protects ICT work so that it isnt easy to
steal and therefore you can claim it as your own. This Copyright act applies to copying
software, such as- MP3 songs, Videos, Images and Text. Copyright is an automatic right and
arises whenever an individual or company creates a work. To claim company, your work
should be regarded as original, and exhibit a degree of labour, skill or judgement.
Interpretation is related to the independent creation rather than the idea behind the
creation. For example, your idea for a book would not itself be protected as it is not the
actual content of a book you write would be. Someone else is still entitled to write their own
book around the same idea, provided they do not directly copy or adapt yours to do so. The
types of work eligible for copyright protection include: Literary, dramatic, artistic or musical
work, the typographical arrangement of a published edition, a sound recording and film.
Other companies will be able to claim copyright if necessary.
I will be making sure that I do not copy any work as this is what my Client has requested, if I
was to copy someones Copyright then I could be sacked from the role. By making sure, I will
be reading all the laws before I start my product. From my Clients brief, copying someones
work is a definite no.

Ethical
Working on a media means that there will be restrictions to what you can exactly do for
example religion will come in to the category therefore different meanings can come in to
Ethical considerations. Ethical considerations are to protect people from things such as
racial comments which could offend somebody and cause huge problems. Ethical
Considerations is not just the things you say away from the internet but on the internet as
well, comments can upset people and cause further stirs. People are more likely to say
harsh things online as they dont think that just because there online they will get away with
it. They wont as it can always be tracked meaning they will be punished. In the media world
and various different media jobs, more restrictions will apply to what you can and cannot
do, when working for the BBC or ITV, rules will apply in what you can and cant say, for
 example: if you work for a television channel or radio presenter and you say something
which can be seen as racist or ethical then you will most likely be sacked and serious cases
could even be as serious as imprisonment. If somebody reports a piece of offensive material
than this could cost the company lots of money so rules apply heavily in the media industry
as well as outside the industry in every day-to-day life.
Below is the things you have to consider to do with an Ethical statement:
You are ensuring quality and integrity of your research
You will seek informed consent
You will respect the confidentiality and anonymity of your research respondents
You will ensure that your participants will participate in your study voluntarily
You will avoid harm to your participants
You can show that your research is independent and impartial.
There following rules apply to avoid breaching the Ethical Considerations law:
*You are not allowed to use any pictures; video or sound clips unless you have obtained the
owners permission before hand.
*You are not allowed to use any part of someones work without permission. This links in
with the copyright law.
You have to be careful in how you represent and describe people in your work and make
sure that you are not biased in anything you say- This may apply to (Race, Gender, Sexuality,
Disability, Nationality, Religion and Age)
This connotes that you cant suggest it in any way that these specific groups will take
offence to. If you produced a production for a big company then this will most likely not be
seen, there are laws put in place to stop this from happening such as The Race Relations Act,
it is important you do not breach these acts.
When planning a design, it Is important to talk everyone above in consideration to ensure
that no breaching of these acts take place. I have put everything above into sensible
consideration but if I will have to check with my client to make them aware of these
considerations further action will take place if necessary.
To make exact sure that I do not break any of these rules, it is essential that I gain
permission for my images and videos from the internet. If I am declined from this
transaction then I will have to not use the owners images, this meaning that I will have to
go through this process again and look for more until my acceptance is granted. When
downloading them, I need make sure that the images/videos are not copyrighted, again
otherwise I will be breaching an act. I will need to make sure that the content is A:
Appropriate and B: Safe, so that I can include It in my software and it will not discriminate
anyone. The softwares I will be using have been published by my college so I trust the
programs to be safe and secure. I will not be able to use this software at my own home as I
have not personally brought the software.
Codes of practice is a set of written regulations issued by a professional association or an
official body that explains how people working in a particular profession should behave. A
code of practice helps workers in a particular profession to comply with ethical and health
standards.