It´s that time of the year when resolutions are made. Cut down ( or stop ) visiting the pub, Join a gym, run the half marathon, Lose 15Kg, all great stuff, but if you run an E-Commerce website maybe it’s time to review your privacy policy.
FTC has enacted several new laws which help protect an individual’s on-line privacy and their data security. Failure to comply can have a disastrous financial effect on a website owner.
Two Cardinal Rules Regarding Privacy And Data Security
When crafting your website’s privacy policy it´s important to focus on the following fundamentally important rules. They are:
Rule No. 1: The purpose of any website based, privacy policy, is to:
- Disclose clearly, the categories of information collected at the site
- How this information will be used
- With whom the information is shared ( or who will have unfettered access to this information )
Rule No. 2: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) treats a privacy policy as though it was a contract being entered into with your website´s visitor. If the website promises certain practices in its privacy policy, but fails to deliver on such a promise, the FTC says the website owner is liable for damages.
Read through your website´s privacy policy, keep these cardinal rules in mind. Understand and document all that your website does regarding the collection, use and sharing of personal information belonging to any website visitor.
Do check if:
- The privacy policy discloses all categories of private information collected?
- Does it describe all the ways you use the information?
- Does it describe with whom such information is shared ( or who has the means to access it )?
Once done, sit down and compare what is promised in the privacy policy and how the website´s products and services are actually marketed.
Privacy Policy Checklist
Here´s a privacy policy checklist which can assist during the review of your websites online privacy policy.
