P4: Describe how the proposal conforms to meet all legal and regulatory requirements
How does my proposal meet the legal requirements?
Copyright and intellectual property- Due to the nature of the app, it is imperative that it contains music videos. I must have sufficient legal permission to feature these, otherwise I will be sued and the product will be unusable. A way around this is that I could feature only 30 seconds of a music video to avoid the copyright sanctions- however realistically I believe this would have a significant impact on the quality of the app.
PRS and PPL- PRS (performing right society) and PPL (phonographic performance limited) are both organisations who deal with copyright for music through agreements with the creators and people who want to use the music. PPL for example licenses the use of recorded music where played in public, broadcast on radio, or TV. As long as I have a legal agreement with the artists it will be fine to use their music and videos and copyright will not be an issue. This agreement will state that that, as the app is only linking to the music videos though YouTube, it is actually promotion for music creator. The app has to acknowledge who the artist is and the record company, which has the royalties and copyright. If that is done then everything will be in line with the copyright and intellectual property laws.
Data protection (GDPR)- Because it is a possibility that my app will contain a feature in which the audience signs up, my company will be responsible for handling their data professionally and legally- this means abiding by the Data Protection Act of 1988. The act states that it is illegal to misuse someones personal information, for example phone numbers and email addresses and sell them to other companies. Therefore, if my app was to ever handle the audiences personal issues, they will have to be encrypted and kept confidential. GDPR (general data protection regulation) is similar to the Data Protection act, but not the same thing. GDPR came into effect in 2018, leading to a change in the way an individuals personal data/ information is collected and processed by websites and companies. It has been put there to further protect private information and data of individuals. This has led to many social media companies having to make changes due to the new legal framework GDPR has put into place.
How does my proposal meet the regulatory requirements?
OFCOM- OFCOM stands for the Office of Communications and is the communications regulator in the UK. It deals with lots of media communications such as TV, Radio and Video on Demand services. This is important to our app because we are thinking of advertising and marketing the app on TV and Radio, so need to think about what is allowed and what to stay away from.
ASA- The ASA (advertising standards authority) are an independent regulator, regulating advertising across all forms of media in the UK, both traditional and digital. They apply codes to all advertising in the UK and must be followed by the advertiser. These codes are created by CAP (committee of advertising practise). Because my app will have to be advertised across a wide range of media platforms, it is important that I adhere to these advertising codes.
P5: Assess the ethical, social and moral impact your proposal could have on stakeholders.
What are stakeholders? A stakeholder is an individual, company, group, or organisation whom have a particular interest/concern in another organisation.A stakeholders actions can have an affect on an organisation's objectives and policies and vice versa. Examples of stakeholders:
Directors
Employees
The Government
Shareholders
Suppliers
Unions
Communities from which a business draws it's resources
Below are all of the ethical, social, and moral implications surrounding the app, and the impact they could have on stakeholders. It is incredibly important for me to asses these and discuss how I will tackle them.
GDPR and Private Policy- As I touched on previously, the EU have bought in a new regulation (GDPR) which has made substantial changes to the privacy laws, particularly digitally. A huge movement/event that occurred which further prompted the laws being changed was the recent information that was leaked on the Facebook/ Cambridge Analytica scandal, and the overall handling of customers personal data within companies. Because my app will collect information from customers about what they have previously bought/ looked at on the app (in order to suggest what else they may like etc) I have a legal obligation to tell them exactly what is being recorded from them. This will be done by asking the customer to agree to a terms and conditions/ privacy policy document before use of the app. This document will outline what data I am taking. what the company is using it for, and why we are doing it. This complete transparency with the customers will help avoid any potential issues from occurring. Overall, I must make sure that all the data being collected or used within my app is completely safe and protected, and that the app is complying to all GDPR regulations by outlining what data is being used. This could affect the stakeholders because if the a[[ is found guilty of not complying to GDPR regulations, the company could be fined over 4% of the annual global turnover or 20 million euros (whichever is the greater sum). This could seriously harm the company both financially and it's reputation, which would have major repercussions on the stakeholders, because it would mean they'd lose a lot of money. And if the app doesn't comply with regulations, customers won't feel safe and comfortable using the app, and it will lose a lot of income from people not using the product- in turn again meaning the stakeholders would be at risk of losing a lot of money.
Moral Panic- As the app is using music videos and potentially interviews by artists, the themes that are featured in the music videos could be to do with politics or current affairs etc. This could potentially create moral panic, especially as the target audience is particularly young and impressionable. An example would be Childish Gambino's 'This is America' song and music video, in which a lot of controversial themes are discussed such as racism, gun violence etc. This has the potential to create moral panic as these themes are so clearly displayed in the video and it is a young impressionable audience watching. This must be avoided as it could affect use and sales of the app. This could effect stakeholders because moral panic leads to social media hype against the names of the companies that conspired with the app and are linked to the app in any way. This could lead to customers not using them and that means less money for that company. A way I will stop the spread of moral panic is by only featuring non-explicit and censored videos and content in the app.
Harming vulnerable people- In the advertising of the app, under age people might be used to market the app for that audience. This means that the company making the app will have to abide by al the legal implications that come with including younger people such as: getting consent forms from them and their parent/ carer, making sure they are not being forced into anything they do not want, making sure they are comfortable, ensuring that they only work the legal allocated hours and have the legally allocated breaks. This could effect stakeholders if we don't abide by all the rules in using vulnerable people, because it looks bad on them as a company and could result in them losing money because the public don't trust their products. We may also be banned from using vulnerable people if we don't abide by the rules which means our marketing won't be as effective and we will lose market share leading to loss in profit for the stakeholders.