LO3 Report - P4 + P5: Be able to illustrate how the legal, ethical, social and moral issues are considered within the product proposal

LO3: Be able to illustrate how the legal, ethical, social and moral issues are considered within the product proposal 

Explain your product and how it is affected by legal and regulation issues:

My idea for a new interactive media product is a new mobile app and website. This website/app would be focussed on guiding the users to maintaining a healthy state of mental health. It would include features which would help them organise their life or just note down how they were feeling or thinking, or what they have done that day. Furthermore, it would be customisable for each user with different background screen decoration options and optional background music. It would also have an avatar that the users can change to look how they like with different level ups as rewards for completing different activities or streaks if they choose to complete an activity daily. 

My created proposal document surrounding the idea for a new interactive media product conforms to meet the legal and regulatory requirements. I have ensured this by researching the different laws and different regulation bodies which would be involved in my media product. If my product was opened up on the web, it would need to follow the guidances of non-regulators organisations such as W3C. This organisation is responsible for the international standards of websites and to ensure that they all work on different web browsers such as Google or Microsoft Edge. My website product would have to follow their standards such as ensuring my website is accessible to everyone. I would ensure this by including features such as alt tags on my images and videos to describe what the pictures include so people who use a screen reader can understand and still use my product. I have ensured this is covered in my product proposal under the section labelled Legal and Regulation. 

For example, as my media product can be a mobile app, there isn't a regulatory body responsible for guaranteeing the safety of the users. However, in terms of the advertising for my product, the regulatory body concerning promotion and advertising would be the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority). Some apps which are monitored are usually more Health And Wellness inclined apps which have a more prominent effect on the users as they promise to monitor baby's heart rates or relating to some medical conditions such as Diabetes. These apps are monitored by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) however, even though my app would come under Health and Wellness category in the App Store it is meant for more mental health which means it wouldn't be applicable to my product. When advertising my product across social media or any pop up adverts, it would need to ensure that the product is promoted as friendly, inclusive and none harmful. This would mean no offensive, harmful language or imagery should be used and it also shouldn't over exaggerate the capabilities of the app such as promising the cure or get rid of any mental health conditions. It also shouldn't give the idea of being professional and as would be mentioned on the app that they can always go to their GP or the NHS if they are more seriously concerned. 

Some of the legal requirements I have considered within my product proposal include the data protection act, copyright designs and patents act and the requirements needed by the App Store. The data protection act was recently updated in 2018 to replace the data protection act of 1999. It covers the protection of personal and private details which are inputted or held by any company. In terms of my idea for a new interactive media product, my product would need to uphold the data protection act for details such as usernames and passwords and store the information that they inputted such as the mood trackers or activities. This would need to be protected incase of any mobile phones or accounts being hacked and changes are done to their accounts. 

The Copyright Designs and Patents Act's most recent version was created in 1988. The purpose of this act is so the creators of any media have the rights to control how their work is used and distributed. So if I use someone else's media work anywhere within my product I will need to ensure that the creator has given permission by checking the status of copyright on their product. Areas where this needs to be considered would be any optional background music which I would then need to credit the sources somewhere on the App. I would plan to credit my sources on the options tab where the users can choose the background music. Furthermore, I will also need to think about the requirements set by the App Store. For example, when signing into my app there would need to be a terms and conditions so that the users know what they are giving permission to the app to store their information and what the app will do with that information. 

Explain your product is affected by ethical, social and moral impacts of society and how it has also affected the stakeholders: 

When proposing my idea for a new interactive media product, I will need to identify and consider the ethical social and moral impacts. One of the ethical issues surrounding my media product is the discrimination and harassment. I do not want my product specifically to be harmful to my users because my app is aimed at helping and guiding people with their mental health and if the app hurts the users it goes against the purpose of the app. I will avoid this by not including any slurs or derogatory words but also by giving the users a lot of options on how they identify. For example, instead of like some apps where only male or female options are available for your gender, I would include male, female, non-binary and an other section where the user can type in what they identify as. By showing how my product is inclusive for the target audience, it will be more attractive to stakeholders as it is more accepting of people and holds more modern ideology. 

One of the social issues that I will need to consider is how I am ensuring my product prevents issues such as cyberbullying, trolling and online harassment. I do not want my users to be impacted by these negative interactions with other users either strangers or if they are friends with them in real life. This is one of the reasons why I chose to have my product free of communication with other people to mainly focus on their own well being and mental health. By cutting communication through features such as direct messaging or chatting which is done on social media apps, or even through sharing a link to your profile like on mobile games, my media product will be solely for the users own experience to avoid issues with comparison and bullying. This will allow for the users to feel unjudged and that they are in a safe environment. By doing this, my product will interest stakeholders as it is looking out for the safety of the users and shows we care about our customers. 

When creating my new idea for an interactive media product, I will need to consider some moral issues surrounding my product. One of these is deciding if the way I am distributing or advertising my product is morally right. An example of this is by advertising with false claims or using click bait on videos to promote the release or existence of my new product. To avoid leaving customers or users unhappy and outraged at being tricked, I will ensure my product's advertisement and distribution is morally right. This will happen by having my product advertisement only include features which are guaranteed and factually checked with my product and distribute my product on legal places such as the App Store or with a paid domain name on the Web. This will attract stakeholders to my product because it shows my product's integrity towards its audience and not that is just an idea to create more money.