Protection Act (1998) Was Instituted in Order

¶ … Protection Act (1998) was instituted in order to protect the privacy of individuals in terms of communication. The fundamentals of this Act are: (i) data may only be used for the specific purposes for which it was collected, (ii) with certain exceptions, data may only be shared with other parties with key individual's authorizations, (iii) with certain exceptions, key individual's have a right to know about personally-relevant data. (iv) Personal information must be updated and maintained only for requisite time. (v) Personal information may only be sent outside European Economic Area with individual's consent, (vi) with exceptions, all entities that process personal information must register with the Information Commissioner's Office, (vii) security measures, such as firewalls must be in place for all entities holding personal information, and staff must be fully equipped so that no leakage occurs, (viii) factually incorrect information must be corrected (JISC Legal, 2007).

Communications Act 2003

This Act is concerned with British media, specifically radio and TV it passed measures that included the following: It became illegal to use other people's wifi connections without their permission; Community Radio received legal recognition; many restrictions on cross-media ownership were lifted; and non-British entities could own a British television company. It was effective in encouraging fulltime Community Radio services in the UK (Legislation.gov.uk. [online]).

REGULATION

Self-regulatory and non-statutory, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) regulates and monitors advertisements that feature in British media, including TV, internet, sales promotions and direct marketing in order to ensure that advertisements are legal, decent, honest and truthful. It applies the Advertising Codes as measure in order to ascertain that advertisements conform to these requirements (Advertising Standards Authority (ASA, http://www.asa.org.uk/) . It is aided in this task by the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP).

The Advertising Codes include the two categories of the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising (the BCAP Code) that applies to broadcast advertisements such as teleshopping and interactive or self-promotional television advertisements, and the UK Code of Non-Broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (the CAP Code) that applies to non-broadcast marketing advertisements. What this means is that the rules have been laid down by the non-broadcast advertising entity and by the broadcast entity; the ASA ensures that these rules are kept by all parts of the advertising industry -- advertisers, media, and agencies (Advertising Standards Authority (ASA, http://www.asa.org.uk/).

GOVERNANCE

The ASA monitors by investigating complaints made about ads, sales, or direct marketing and deciding whether these complaints have any legitimacy according to the advertising standards codes. Not waiting for complaints to arrive, it works alongside CAP and BCAP to make sure that ads are ethically formulated before they are published, and it also provides training, guidance, and pre-publication advice to both entities. It also acts as watchdog on companies that have a historical record of unsatisfactory advertising ethics, and regarding which there is particular societal concern (Advertising Standards Authority, 'Control of Ads' [online])

How PESTEL Impacts Communication Strategies / Objectives

In order to effectively start up and maintain an organization, I will need to be aware of the breadth of the 'meso-economic' environment (i.e. The immediate environment in which Etam intends to operate; this environment has limited impact) and 'micro-economic' environment (i.e. all factors that influence Etam but are beyond its control) in which Etam will theoretically function. In this way PESTEL analysis helps me since it guides my strategic decision making in that it audits all impinging and potential influences enabling me to see how I should structure my decision and what I should take into account in formulating plans for my company. Helping me to ferret out and discern potential changes, it will place me in a better niche than my competitors to respond to change (Grundy, 2006).

Secondly, I will be able to use the analysis of my PESTEL survey to maximize my advantages and minimize my threats. Scanning political, economic, social, technological, environment, and legal impacting elements will enable me to more accurately and pragmatically forecast longtime trends and eventualities thus placing me in an advantageous position so that I can meet and plan for these eventualities when, and if, they arrive.