Legal and Ethical Considerations

In this report I shall highlight any potential legal or ethical issues that I may face through the creation of this website and discuss the procedures i have undergone to remove as many of these issues as possible to ensure my website is appropriate and safe for my target audience to consume. My website is a Microblogging site in which I share my story of how I became a musician and also will give insight as to how to find inspiration for music, the target audience of my website being musicians aged 14-16.

Copyright - 

This is in reference to someone using someone else's product as a means to make profit, it was orchestrated in 1988 in the UK to stop people from making money from other people's work by claiming it as their own. In my case I have embedded music from YouTube, I shouldn't have any issues due to the links being embedded form the copyright holders channel so they will receive all profits and add revenue from me using it, this was my intention due to the whole reason I included them was to credit the artists and allow people to discover them for themselves.

Data Protection Act - 

This is in reference to the privacy and security of users and people mentioned in terms of their contact information and data. This means that I am unable to share or try sell off any information given such as contacts or data from my site. In the case of my personal website, I have a section which allows people to contact me directly so I legally must keep all conversations private unless I have the permission from the client to use their information for content, for example I may release a video where I answer any questions given and I may include the name of the person who has asked the question. 

Accessibility - 

This refers to how easy it is to use the website, so it is ensuring that as many people of varying abilities can easily use my website. To make this possible I have ensured that all key information is in the form of text and is in high contrast with the background, is spaced suitably and is a suitable font, this is to accompany any screen-reading software as it usually cant read out the contents of an image file to blind people, moreover people with impaired vision or dyslexia will need text to appear correctly on the page for them to be able to read the text. Moreover, the site has buttons which are a good enough size in case people have shaky hands when using a mouse, it could also make it easier for people who use other specialist equipment instead of a mouse.  

Offence - 

This refers to the idea of including or promoting content which could offend or attack different groups, cultures or ethnic minorities. This can include content which is sexist, racist, attacks religious beliefs, homophobic or attacks cultures. In the case of my website there isn't much opportunity for offence as I have made it seem open and equal to all, however I ensured I included male and female artists, this is to avoid any sexist interpretations such as promoting the idea that only males can be music artists.

 

Misinterpretation -

This is in reference to the false depiction or representation of an ideal or of something, for example with my genres of music I haven't misrepresented any form of music genre such as degrading one due ot my personal preferences, nor have I presented anything in a different way than it should be. This is seen as false news which isn't liked and isn't allowed so it must be avoided as much as possible.