MIL MODULE 5
LEGAL, ETHICAL & SOCIETAL ISSUES IN MEDIA AND INFORMATION
What is copyright?
Copyright is mainly the protection of one’s expressions which only becomes tangible and concepts when objects are created
as manifestation of these expression. Copyright could be a variety of protection provided by the laws to the authors of “original works
of authorship,” together with literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and bound different intellectual works. This protection is obtainable
to each revealed and unpublished works.
• Set of rights granted the author
• Creator of a piece, to limit other’s ability to repeat
• Redistribute and reshape the content.
Related Issues
A copyright protects solely original works of “authorship” enclosed within the following seven categories:
• Literary works (including pc programs),
• Musical works, together with any incidental words,
• Dramatic works, together with any incidental music,
• Pantomimes and dance works,
• Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works,
• Motion photos and different audiovisual works,
• Sound recordings.
Registering Copyright
Majority of the state signatories of WIPO adhere to the Berne convention that provides automatic copyright protection. This
means that a registration or any other formality is not required. As for most countries, including the Philippine, there is a system for
voluntary registration of works. Such system “help solve disputes over ownership or creation, as well as facilitate financial
transactions, sales, and the assignment and/or transfer of rights.”
Fair Use
Fair Use is the limitation and to the prerogative granted by copyright law to the author of an ingenious work samples of use
embrace statement, search engines, criticism, news coverage, research, teaching, library archiving and scholarship.
Plagiarism
The plagiarism is copying or closely imitating the work of another author, composer, etc., while no permission and with the intention
of passing the results of as original.
What is netiquette?
Netiquette refers to a collection of rules that governs what conduct is socially acceptable in a web or digital scenario. It’s a
social code of network communication. Netiquette is a set of rules for behaving properly on-line. It represents the importance of
correct manners and behavior on-line. In general, netiquette is that the set of skilled and social etiquettes practiced and advocated
in transmission over any electronic network. Common pointers embody being courteous and precise, and avoiding cyber-bullying.
Netiquette additionally dictates that users ought to adapt copyright laws and avoid over victimization emoticons. It could be
a short type of network rule or net rule. The word netiquette could be a combination of ‘net’ (from internet) and ‘etiquette’. It suggests
that respecting alternative users’ views and displaying common courtesy once posting your views to on-line discussion teams.
10 Basic Rules of Netiquette or Internet Etiquette
Know your manners when using Technology. The rules of etiquette are just as important in cyberspace as they are in the
evidence of poor netiquette can stick around to haunt you for much longer. Follow these basic rules of netiquette to avoid damaging
your online and offline relationships.
DO DON’T
• Respect other people’s privacy -• Name-call or express offensive opinions
• Verify facts before reposting -• Post private or embarrassing images or comments
• Check messages and respond -• Exclude people or talk behind their backs.
promptly
1. Remember That Real People Take Priority
If someone is in the room with you, stop what you are doing and look at them. And don’t answer your cellphone unless it is
to tell the person on the other end that you will call them right back. If you are expecting an important call or email, let the person
know upfront, and apologize for taking the call. This is also true of public places, such as restaurants, public transit, stores, and
libraries. Avoid taking phone calls and having conversations in these shared spaces.
2. If You Wouldn’t Say It to Someone’s Face, Don’t Say It Online
Name-calling, cursing, expressing deliberately offensive opinions – if you wouldn’t do it to the face of anyone who might
conceivably see what you write, don’t write it. This goes for any social media site, forum, chat room, or email message, even if you
think it can’t be traced back to you.
3. If You Wouldn’t Show it in Public, Don’t Share It Online
Naked sex pictures, drunk pictures, drug use pictures, unedited home video - if you would have a problem with your boss,
your parents, or your kids seeing it now, or at any point in the future, don’t post it online.
4. Don’t Exclude Your Audience
If you have an in-joke to share with one other person, or a small number of people in a larger online group, send them a
private message. Don’t make everyone else feel left out by posting an obscure comment to your Facebook status, forum, or
Instagram story.
5. Don’t “Friend” Then “Unfriend” People
NO one believes you have 1,000 friends, but it is insulting to be dropped from someone’s friend list. Think about it before
adding them or accepting their invitation. If you don’t want to be in touch with them, don’t add them in the first place. If you want to
stay in touch for professional reasons, tell them you only use Facebook for close personal friendships, and join LinkedIn or another
professional networking site for more distant contacts.
6. Don’t Overload System Resources with Enormous Files
You might think that sequence of nature pictures with inspirational statements is wonderfully moving. It might even give you
a sense of serenity. But that is the last thing it will give the person you email it to if it crashes their server, depletes their inbox quota
so their emails get bounced for a week before they realize, or uses up the last bit of space they needed to complete an important
assignment. So, post it to your own space and send people a link. Don’t attached it to an email.
7. Respect People’s Privacy
Don’t forward information sent to you without checking with the original sender first. Use BCC (blind carbon copy) rather
than CC (Carbon Copy) if you are sending something out to more than one person. You might think that we are sending online, but
your friends may not want their names and or email addresses publicized to people they do not even know.
8. Don’t Repost Without Checking the Facts
That cure for cancer might sound impressive, but it will cause upset if it is a hoax. And urban myths add to the noise of the
internet and waste people’s time. If you aren’t sure of the facts, email it to someone who does know or can find out. Or do a search
on Google or snopes.com.
9. Check and Respond to Email Promptly
Ignore and delete spam, unsolicited messages, and crazy stuff. But if you have given someone your email address or if you
are in a position where people could reasonably be expected to contact you by email and your email address is public, have the
courtesy to reply to their message within a few days. If it is going to take longer to reply, email them and tell them that.
10. Update Online Information That People Depend Upon
Don’t leave inaccurate information online just because you can’t be bothered to update your website. If you are going to be
unavailable, for example, don’t leave your hours of operation online indicating you will be available. If you can’t keep your website
up to date, take it down.
Digital Divide, Addiction, Bullying
Digital Divide
Digital divide could be a term that refers to the gap between demographics and regions that have access to trendy info and
technology, and people that do not or have restricted access. Before the late twentieth century, digital divide referred principally to
the division between those with and without phone access.
The digital divide generally exists between those in cities and people in rural areas; between the educated and the
uneducated; between socioeconomic groups; and, globally, between the more and less industrially developed nations. Even
among populations with some access to technology, the digital divide can be evident in the form of lower-performance computers,
lower-speed wireless connections, lower priced connections such as dial-up, and limited access to subscription-based content
(Rouse, 2014).
Computer Addiction
A disorder in which the individual turns to the Internet or plays computer games to change moods, overcome anxiety, deal
with depression, reduce isolation or loneliness, or distract themselves from overwhelming problems. The elderly, as well as children
and adolescents, are particularly vulnerable because they may not realize the extent of their dependency. In many instances,
individuals with computer addiction may seek help for another condition, such as depression, phobias or other addictions (Shiel,
2018).
Bullying
Stopbullying.org (2019) defines bullying as unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real
or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied
and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems.
In order to be considered bullying, the behavior must be aggressive and include:
• An Imbalance of Power: Kids who bully use their power—such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information,
or popularity—to control or harm others. Power imbalances can change over time and in different situations, even if they
involve the same people.
• Repetition: Bullying behaviors happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once.
Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and
excluding someone from a group on purpose.
Three Types of Bullying
1. Verbal bullying is saying or writing means things. Verbal bullying includes:
Examples: - Teasing
• Name-calling
• Inappropriate sexual comments
• Taunting,
• Threatening to cause harm.
2. Social bullying, sometimes referred to as relational bullying, involves hurting someone’s reputation or relationships. Social
bullying includes:
Examples:
• Leaving someone out on purpose
• Telling other children not to be friends with someone
• Spreading rumors about someone
• Embarrassing someone in public
3. Physical bullying involves hurting a person’s body or possessions.
Physical bullying includes:
• Hitting/kicking/pinching
• Spitting
• Tripping/pushing
• Taking or breaking someone’s things
• Making mean or rude hand gestures
Intellectual Property in International and Local Context
Intellectual property, or IP, as defined by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), is the “creation of the mind,
such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs and symbols, names and images used in commerce.” Since the products of
human intellect have a direct influence on human civilization and on the development of societies, there should be safeguards on
intellectual property.
Laws are enacted to enforce and recognition toward the fruits of other people’s ingenuity. Inventions or creations serve some
benefits to user, thus in the logic of commerce of business, inventions and creators should be properly compensated for their
contribution. If their intellectual property right is protected, people will be motivated to contribute more by continuously inventing and
creating for the public good on the spirit of fair play.
The WIPO is the “global forum for intellectual property service, policy, information, and cooperation.” In the Convention
Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization signed at Stockholm on 14 July 1967 and amended on 28 September 1979,
it has been agreed among the state signatories that the WIPO will be “responsible for the promotion and protection of intellectual
property throughout the world through cooperation among state and, where appropriate, in collaboration with other international
organizations, and for the administration of various treaties dealing with intellectual property rights,” WIPO has classified the forms
of IP .
Table 1. Types of Intellectual Property
Terms Description Coverage
• Legal terms used to describe the rights that creators have over Books, Music, Paintings,
Copyright their literary and artistic works Sculpture, Films,
Computer program,
Databases,
Advertisement, Maps,
Technical drawings
• Provides the patent owner with the right to diced how, or • Exclusive right granted for an invention
Patent whether, the invention can be used by others in exchange for
this right. The patent owner makes technical information about
the invention publicly available in the published patent
document
Trademark • A sign capable of distinguishing goods or services of one • Products sold or services offered by a
enterprise from those of other enterprises business entity
• Dates back to ancient times when craftsmen used to put their
signature or “mark” on their products
Industrial Design • Constitutes the ornamental or aesthetic aspect of an • Design of an object (shape or surface,
article/object patterns, lines, or colors)
Geographical• Sign used on goods that have specific geographical origin and • The name of the place of origin of the
Indication and possess qualities, a reputation or characteristics that are goods/products
Appellation of essentially attributable to that place of origin
Origin
The Intellectual Property Law of the Philippines
The Philippines, as a State signatory in the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, is duty-
bound to pass a law on intellectual property protection. Thus, the enactment of Republic Act 8293, otherwise known as “The
Intellectual Property Code of 1997”.
According to this piece of legislation, intellectual property rights consist of:
1. Copyright and related rights;
2. Trademarks and service marks;
3. Geographic indication;
4. Industrial designs;
5. Patents;
6. Layout-designs {Topographies) of integrated circuits; and
7. Protection of understanding information.
Copyright Protected Works
Under Philippine copyright, both original works and derivative works are protected.
Original works are those that are literary or artistic in natures which include the following:
• Books, pamphlets, article, and other writings
• Periodicals and newspapers
• Lectures, sermons, addresses, dissertation prepared for oral delivery, whether or not reduced in writing or other material
form
• Letters
• Dramatic or dramatic-musical compositions; choreographic works or entertainment in dumb show
• Musical compositions, with or without words
• Works of drawing, painting, architecture, sculpture, engraving, lithography, or other works of art; models or designs for
works of art
• Original ornamental designs or models for articles of manufacture, whether registrable as an industrial design, and other
works of applied art
• Illustration, maps, plans, sketches, chart, and three-dimensional works relative to geography, topography, architecture, or
science
• Drawings or plastic works of scientific or technical character
• Photographic works including work produced by a process analogous to photography, lantern sides
• Audiovisual works and cinematographic works and works produced by a process analogous to cinematography or any
process of making audio-visual recordings;
• Pictorial illustrations and advertisements
• Computer programs
• Other literary, scholarly, scientific, and artistic works
Works Not Protected
There are also works that are not covered by copyright due to insufficient authorship or due to the work being of importance
to public interest.
1. Unprotected Subject Matter
• Any idea, produce, system, method or operation, concept, principle, discovery, or mere data as such, even if they are
expressed, explained, illustrated or embodied in a mark
• News of the day and other miscellaneous facts having the character of mere items of press information
• Any official text of a legislative, administrative, or legal nature, as well as any official translation.
2. Works of the Government
• Any purpose of statutes, rules and regulations, and speeches, lectures, sermons, addresses, and dissertations,
pronounced, read or rendered in courts of justice, before administrative agencies, in deliberative assembles and in meeting
of public character. (Sec. 9, first par., P.D. No. 49)
