Your Website Needs to Have a Privacy Policy

Whether you’re looking to start a website or if you’ve had one running for a while now, it’s becoming increasingly important for you to ensure you have a privacy policy. New major data privacy policies and regulations have been increasing in number, in lieu of legal struggles and lawsuits that your business can work to avoid. These battles include even major business names such as Google and Facebook, both dealing with punishments from the FTC based on their data handling. To ensure your business is safe and operating as industry-standard as possible, it’s now crucial that you make certain you have an active privacy policy on your website– allow us to explain what this means.

A privacy policy is basically a statement that your website’s viewers can access that details what data you’re collecting and what your intent is with this information. This typically includes an explanation of how data is collected, whether by using forms, browser cookies, or otherwise, as well as your business’ practice with data storage. How long do you keep their information? You can choose between saying it’s perpetual or giving it a time limit. You should also most likely include where it is being stored, whether you’re storing it yourself, or through some external source. Who has access to this data? You should also include anyone who will be able to see or use their information.

Your customers should also have the right to access their data, request its deletion, and be given a chance to opt out of your data collection. This means that you’ll need to include how a customer can request their data and some contact information so that you may help access or delete it. For users that don’t agree to your data collection, it’s important that they have the option to opt-out altogether, typically with a simple click of a button. You should also consider explaining your security standards to help customers feel more safe about your data handling, but also so that none are left questioning your reliability.

Altogether, a privacy policy is an important aspect of your website not only to protect your business, but to help your customers understand your policies and to keep them protected as well. In a time where cybersecurity is a growing concern and measures must be taken to protect data from attackers, this policy can help your business remain accountable and on the safe side of legal matters. i3 is here to help ensure you have a privacy policy in place that is both functional and up to regulation standards. For more help on this topic, contact i3!