IS YOUR WEBSITE LEGAL!?
We don’t want to freak you out, but did you know that…
If your website doesn’t include a privacy policy, you could be breaking USA federal law.
If your website isn’t GDPR compliant, then you could be breaking international law. The General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, affects any website owner who regularly interacts with customers or site visitors in the UK and EU.
If you are an individual, company or organisation doing business in New Zealand and/or Australia and you collect any personal information about your customers, you need to ensure that you do so in accordance with Australia and New Zealand’s privacy laws.
Keep reading to discover a cheap and easy solution to all those contracts, T&C’s, eCommerce and Privacy Pages concerns. Hint: there is no need to spend a fortune on lawyers!
What is a privacy policy?
A privacy policy primarily answers two questions: (1) what information do you collect from visitors, and (2) how do you handle that information?
If you’re collecting any kind of personal information, you need a privacy policy.
For example, do visitors submit their email by subscribing to your newsletter? Is there a contact form that potential clients fill out on your website to get in touch with you? Those are both collecting personal information from website visitors.
Your website most likely collects visitor data behind the scenes, too, through tracking codes like Google Analytics. Most website platforms have built-in analytics that keeps an activity log of computer IP addresses without anyone knowing, which also counts as personal information.
A privacy policy lets people know when they visit your website, they’re allowing you to see (and even keep) some of their personal information (no matter how big or small).
Every website is required by law to include a privacy policy.
It doesn’t matter where you’re located; it matters who can access your website, which is basically the world..
To sum it up, privacy policies protect you and your website visitors. You can’t control who accesses your website, but you can control what information you collect and explain how it’s handled.
COOKIES
I think everyone’s familiar with the cookie banner that pops up on practically every website these days.
To clarify, a “cookie” is a tiny file containing personal information, such as site settings and personal preferences. Cookies personalize your web browsing experience. You can best see them at work when you’re shopping online.
The FTC in the U.S. does not specifically require a Cookies Policy on your website. However, the GDPR does. They require that website users agree to your use of cookies.
We address “Cookies” in our website’s privacy policy, not on a separate “Cookie Notice” page.
DO I NEED TO HIRE A LAWYER?
If you can afford it, yes! If you can’t, don’t worry! We used The Contract Shop for our terms and conditions and privacy pages. Their templates are not dependent on local laws and are applicable no matter where you are in the world. They have international versions of select contract templates for convenience, but not out of necessity.
You can find bundles for T&C’s and Privacy here.
Bundles for hiring and so much more, here.
Ecommerce T&C’s and Privacy here.
Can you prevent someone from America or Europe from visiting your website? No. Can you be properly set up to accommodate them? Yes.
Feel free to reach out to us if you need any help!
Love,
WWD