privacy policy compliance for your business website
It has become a standard legal requirement that for websites asking for, collecting, or utilizing consumer data/information have a posted privacy policy and I want to ensure you’re caught up and in compliance. Laws and regulations on cyber security and privacy protections are only ramping up. There are 15 states that have enacted state-level privacy compliance. Here is some good basic info about Data Privacy Laws in the US.
>>> If you ask for consumer data, such as for an email newsletter or take a payment, or collect signups for events, etc… it applies. Especially relevant is if you're utilizing any analytics or email tracking integrations.
As you can imagine, CA is one of the more strict states with regards to consumer protection acts and stand on the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), fully revised in January 2023. You can read on the CPRA updates if that excites you.
In addition to the privacy policy, a terms and conditions statement along with website disclosure is advisable. These are all widely available as boilerplates to serve as a baseline level of adherence. Because all businesses are different, Squarespace offers some clauses you can copy/paste if you’re creating your own privacy policy.
It’s better to be safe than sorry. Legal is sooooo fun…
EXAMPLES OF HOW TO INCORPORATE PRIVACY POLICY:
Embedded with code:
My privacy policy is hard-coded into my webpage with HTML and linked in my footer. It is hosted free by legal website Termly. Here’s that version.
Links and pop-outs:
There are free templates for PDF’s you can use and create/copy/link like I formatted here for this website, clearly accessible in the footer.
I highly encourage you add a privacy policy to your website however makes sense for you to stay caught up with state and national compliance requirements. I am happy to chat with you about your privacy policy compliance.
