Legal and Ethical Issues in Interactive Media

Intellectual Property

Intellectual property law is designed to protect the rights of creators, and ensure that others cannot profit off of their work without their consent. There are three broad classes of intellectual property: copyright, patents, and trademarks. Copyright covers the protection of artistic works, such as music, video, writing, and artwork. It's an automatic right that is provided as soon as something is created, and is protected as long as the creator has evidence to back it up.

Patents are used to protect the creation of machinery and inventions. Unlike copyright, patents require an application that must be approved by an institution. It gives the owner exclusive rights to features or processes produced by the device in question.

Trademarks are a kind of mix of patents and copyright. They require application approval to produce but are used for a more artistic process: branding. Trademarks protect the rights of the owner to use and distribute products with a specific branding style, in order to prevent fraudulent products from being passed off as the real thing.

Privacy

With huge cases of breaches of privacy caused by large companies including one specific social media site that uses the colour blue, protecting users from harmful uses of their data is both an ethical and legal necessity. GDPR legislation outlines seven key principles with regard to user data that must be followed.

1. Data needs to be processed fairly, lawfully and transparently
2. It cannot be used for purposes other than those explicitly stated
3. Data gathered must be the absolute minimum necessary within the context of its use
4. It must be accurate and kept up to date, within reason
5. Personal data may only be kept for the minimum necessary time within the context of its use
6. All reasonable measures must be taken to protect data from theft, damage or unlawful use.
7. The data holder must be able to prove that all previous steps have been taken

Accessibility

This topic isn't just an ethical issue, it's an important legal one too. Under the Equality Act 2010, you must make reasonable allowances to allow disabled users to access your site or application. As long as you consider the different needs of different classes of users and strive to include them in your design, everything will pan out fine.

First of all, font choice. Some typefaces are actually really difficult to read for users with conditions like dyslexia, particularly in large blocks of copy. Make sure to give an accessible option to users who need this extra support, such as an option to switch to Comic Sans. That said, Comic Sans isn't exactly the most popular dyslexia-friendly font in the world, but there are some great alternatives out there like Open Dyslexic.

The Open Dyslexic website is specifically designed to be accessible to dyslexics.

Colour is also an important factor to consider with regard to accessibility. If you use colour as important functional design elements, it's wise to include options for the various types of colour blindness that exist.

Accessibility screen from Destiny 2. It provides options for various types of colour blindness

Subtitles and closed captions are extremely useful for the deaf and hard of hearing when it comes to video or audio content. These are overlaid over the content, and provide textual descriptions of audio. On top of this, they can be particularly useful for those who have recently become hard of hearing or deaf and have not yet learned sign language.

Another screenshot from Destiny 2, this time showing options for subtitles. In this case, Bungie has gone the extra mile by providing a multitude of colour and background options for their overlay.

Representation

Unfortunately, this topic isn't as strongly legally protected as equality, but (at least in my humble opinion) it is also extremely important. Good representation makes people from marginalised communities feel cared about, it helps them feel like belong and helps to slowly but surely piece back together the damage done to them over the generations.

Race is probably the most obvious of these issues of representation, particularly in 2021. However, other important topics of representation include the portrayal and inclusion of women (both cis and trans), the disabled and the LBTQIA+ community. Good represent doesn't just mean showing that these people exist, it's about not falling into stereotyping them, and portraying them with dignity while acknowledging their achievements.

A positive example of representation from Lloyds Bank. Although it's disappointing that LGBTQIA+ representation in marketing seems to mainly focus on gay men, it's still good to see a lack of stereotyping - hopefully, the other letters will get their turn sooner rather than later.

Defamation

 

This topic is the whole reason that freedom of expression as concept does need at least some limitations. In essence, defamation is the act of speaking ill of a person or organisation to an extreme degree (such as accusing them of a crime or gross incompetence) with no evidence to back up the claim. As this kind of behaviour can be disastrous for the victim's reputation and income, it is protected against by law. Defamation is split into two categories, Slander and Libel. Slander represents defamation via a non recorded medium such as speech. To achieve a victory in a slander case, the victim must be able to demonstrate the damage caused by it via evidence. However, there are cases where the damage need not be evidenced, which referred to as "actionable per se". Libel on the other hand is defined as defamation via a recorded, permanent medium, which could include written/printed documents, illustrations, and photographs. Unlike slander, libel cases do not require evidence of the damage done.

 

 

A recent example of a libel case is against the UK far-right activist Tommy Robinson, after he made (despicable) accusations against a Syrian refugee teenager, who was filmed being assaulted on video.

Obscene Publications Act

 

That's a bit of a mouthful, but in essence this refers to publishing content that could be argued to be damaging or corrupting, with goal of profiting off of this content or showing it to others. Publishing in this case also refers to digital publishing via the internet, as well as in person showing via a monitor or projector. However, it doesn't include keeping something for private use or discussing it in meat-space (an online conversation could be grounds for prosecution). An example of a successful (but later much maligned) case under this act is the prosecution of Cypriot artist Stass Paraskos in 1966.

Computer Misuse Act

 

If protagonists of 1995's classic Hackers were guilty of any crime, it would certainly fall under this piece of legislation. The goal of this law; in a nutshell, is to prevent computer-based crime in general. This includes accessing a computer system without the permission of the owner (hacking), doing the previous with goal of causing further crime (such as doing so to plant malware in order to destroy the victim system), unauthorised modification/deletion/theft of data (such as via spyware), and creating or supplying tools to do crimes of this nature (such as sharing stolen login credentials, scripts, or malware).

 

An example of a case falling under the Computer Misuse Act

Contracts

These represent a set of terms agreed upon by two people or organisations. Essentially, a contract is put in place to assure that these terms aren't broken. If they are broken, and damage is done, the party that caused the breach can be taken to court to either ensure that they fulfill that term, or to prevent them from causing further damage. That said, if a breach of contract is small enough, going to court may not be the most cost-effective method of resolving the issue.

 

Ronaldo's removal of Coca Cola bottles during a press conference is recent example of a contract breach, although it's hard to be upset for the multi-billion dollar corporation.

Relationship With Client

 

While this isn't a legal issue, it's certainly an ethical one. Honestly, maintaining a good relationship with a client is just good common sense. First off, it is absolutely essential to maintain excellent communication with your client. This helps them feel at ease with the arrangement, and allows you to get on with what you do, building a more comfortable environment for all. Next, keep up a positive attitude. Doing this makes the client more confident in your abilities, and keeps pressure manageable all around. Third, your client may be representing a large organisation, but they're the person you're directly dealing with, and they're a person. Make sure that you acknowledge them as an individual, this will stop things being cold and sterile. Next up, make sure to share your knowledge with your client. Doing so will establish a feeling of mutual respect, as the client will then very much know why they hired you in particular. Going back to the point of acknowledging your client's individuality, you are also a person. And you have opinions. Make sure that you don't hide all your opinions away, and you'll be afforded your individuality as well. Plus, if your client's idea doesn't work, and you know it, it's far better to nip it in the bud early than risk it compromising the quality of the project and generating mutual frustration. Finally, do all within your power to exceed your client's expectations. Trust me on this, your reputation will thank you.

Blasphemy

 

While blasphemy is no longer a legal issue across the majority of the UK, its still an import ethical consideration to take. Blasphemy can be defined as displaying a lack of respect, contempt, or reverence towards objects/locations/figures/concepts considered sacred by a religion. It's not particularly hard to toe the line on, just communicate with members of the faith in question and build up an understanding of their customs, and then treat these customs with the level of respect you would treat another person. Offending and upsetting people for no good reason just isn't a good look. Plus, while I said this isn't a legal issue, it still is in Northern Ireland, and there are many countries around the world with their own blasphemy legislation. As with all things, research is your friend.

Greggs replacing the baby Jesus with a sausage roll in their 2017 Christmas advert was catastrophic for their PR at the time, due to the inherent blasphemy of the image.