Confused about the Legal Policy Requirements for Your Site?
Website legal policies serve as a crucial pillar in maintaining transparency, protection, and professionalism for any business. They dictate the terms of use, and provide clarity about data handling practices, thereby fostering trust with visitors. Every website owner should prioritize these policies to ensure compliance with legal requirements, protect themselves from potential legal disputes, and inspire confidence in their audience.
Photographer: Andrea Piacquadio
SO WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT?
Do you want to hear just a little bit more about the privacy policy service? Sometimes a nice explanation can help.
Privacy Policy Generator for Websites — Termageddon from Ricky Bryant on Vimeo.
WHAT IS THIS NEW REQUIREMENT AND DOES IT APPLY TO ME?
Many states have passed privacy laws where fines can exceed $5,000 per website visitor. In addition, there are additional states that want to pass similar laws in the near future, which will require you to not only have a Privacy Policy, but continually update it as well.
WHAT SHOULD I DO TO MEET THESE REQUIREMENTS?
Your site needs to have the appropriate policy statement based on the unique setup and configuration of your website. Due to the highly specialized information, you will need to find an attorney that specializes in Online Privacy and GDPR compliance.
To be proactive about this issue, RadiateWP has partnered up with a Privacy Policy expert that has a tool called Termageddon. Their expert legal team tracks all of the new and changing state and federal requirements and makes the necessary changes to the documents. When changes happen, they will automatically update your website policies and they do it at a fraction of the cost of an attorney.
There has been a fundamental shift regarding the privacy of users which has sparked this new era of policy and privacy mandates.
FAQ’s
Does my website really need a privacy policy?
Yes. Since you are collecting personal information (e.g. name and email on your contact form), you are required to have a Privacy Policy. There are now too many governmental entities to name that have passed a policy. For more information, visit our partner Termageddon. With Termageddon, your service can be protected from lawsuits and fines considering that you need a Privacy Policy.
How do I know if I’m collecting personal information on my website?
You are collecting personal information on your website if you have a contact form that asks for the user’s name, email, or phone number. Also, you’re collecting personal information if you ask for the user’s email to sign them up for an email newsletter.
My site is really small and I don’t have many visits to my site, does that mean that I don’t need to have a privacy policy?
It does not matter how big or small your site is, all websites are legally required to have these policies. You need to have a Privacy Policy if you collect personal information on your website, regardless of the size of your site.
Do I need a disclaimer?
You need a Disclaimer if you do any of the following on your website:
Display advertisements;
Display or sell health products (e.g. vitamins and supplements);
Participate in affiliate programs (e.g. Amazon Affiliates);
Provide health and fitness advice or tips; or
Provide any information or tips that could be seen as legal advice.
If you do any of the above, the Disclaimer will help you provide required disclosures, participate in affiliate programs (some programs require you to have a Disclaimer to participate) and will reduce your liability in case something goes wrong.
Is my business too small for anyone to care about this?
Some of the laws that are being proposed or passed do not limit enforcement and liability to large companies only so your small business could be liable as well. Also, consumers do not distinguish between small and large businesses when it comes to protecting their privacy and are unlikely to buy from companies that do not respect their privacy.
CAn I write these policies myself?
While technically you could write these policies yourself, we do not recommend that you do so. There are a lot of laws, cases and legal opinions on how to write these policies correctly. If you have not spent years studying law and cases, it is very likely that the policy you write would be incomplete, incorrect and non-compliant. Also, there are currently a lot of new privacy laws that are being proposed and passed, meaning that you’d have to constantly stay up to date with these laws and amend your Privacy Policy yourself every time. This would take a lot of time and effort on your part and would take you away from your actual business. That’s why we recommend Termageddon – they take care of all of this for you and automatically update your policies so that you do not have to worry about it.
CAn I just copy and paste someone else’s privacy policy.
You could try and copy and paste someone else’s Privacy Policy, rewrite it to fit your website and then paste it onto your website. However, by doing so, you’d be committing copyright infringement, which could get you sued. Also, you don’t know whether that policy is compliant with the current laws and it won’t auto-update for you, meaning that you’ll have to keep track of the changes to the law which are increasing. Having Termageddon generate a policy for you is much easier, less time consuming and safer.
Can I Use a template?
Using a template that you found online is definitely tempting, especially since there are so many free ones out there. However, when you use a template, you can’t be sure who wrote it so you don’t know whether it’s correct or even compliant with the legal requirements. Also, a template does not automatically update, meaning that you’ll have to keep track of all of the constantly changing laws, which I’m going to guess is something that you don’t have time for. It’s best to use a proven policy generator such as Termageddon because their work is great and they automatically update the policies for you.
My site is pretty secure, does that mean that I don’t need to have a privacy policy?
While having a secure site is awesome, it’s not related to the need to have a Privacy Policy. You need to have a Privacy Policy if you collect personal information on your website, regardless of how secure that personal information is once it’s given to you.
There’s currently no privacy laws in my state, does that mean I don’t need a privacy policy?
The laws that are in place and that are proposed protect the citizens of that state, not the businesses. As you know, people from California aren’t just going to websites of businesses located in California, they go to websites all over the United States. This means that you need a Privacy Policy if you collect personal information on your website, regardless of where you are physically located.
Why do I need Terms of Service?
Terms of Service is a great way to answer frequently asked customer questions and protect yourself from liability. Terms of Service provide the following:
If you sell products and services, it provides information on refunds, order cancellations, and returns. This will help answer customer questions and will take them further down the path to actually buying;
It will protect your intellectual property by making sure that everyone who goes onto your website knows that your logo, name, etc. are yours; and
If you have links to third-party sites on your website (e.g. social media links), it will help protect you in case the user gets a virus from that third-party site.
Do I need an End User License Agreement?
You need an End User License Agreement if you are licensing software that a user can download. An End User License Agreement will help you with the following:
Limit your liability in case a user gets a virus or is otherwise injured by using your software;
Help protect your income stream by making it clear that the software license may not be shared with others; and
Protect your intellectual property by making sure that the user knows that he or she is not allowed to reverse engineer or otherwise copy your software.
Can I ask my attorney to write these for me?
If you have a data privacy attorney on staff, you should definitely ask him or her to write this up for you. Just as a heads up, if you want to ask your outside attorney to draft these for you, that’s a great idea but it may be a bit pricey. Also, lawyers that do not work in the privacy field often use Termageddon as the solution for their Privacy Policies so that’s something to think about as well.
why is the service a recurring fee?
Termageddon charges a recurring fee for its service because it automatically updates your policies whenever the law changes. We are continually hearing of new states and countries that are passing privacy laws and adding to the number of legal requirements we need to consider. Termageddon charges a monthly fee because that’s a lot of research, studying, and changes to your Privacy Policy that they undertake for you. Once the embed code is added and you answer the questions, the policy will auto-update to account for these new laws.