Create legal policies for your website

Yes. Since you are collecting personal information (e.g. name and email on your contact form), you are required to have a Privacy Policy. Currently, the following laws require Privacy Policies for most websites: General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR); UK Data Protection Act 2018; California Online Privacy and Protection Act of 2003 (CalOPPA); California Privacy Protection Act (CCPA); Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA); Delaware Online Privacy and Protection Act (DOPPA); Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 603A;

There are also about a dozen other states that are proposing their own privacy laws that would require most businesses to have a Privacy Policy and would affect how that Privacy Policy is written, requiring you to make changes on a pretty regular basis (see article). We’ve partnered with Termageddon because we think it’s the best service to be protected from lawsuits and fines considering that you need a Privacy Policy.

Yes, yes, and yes!

Theses tools are meant for businesses who do not have a privacy attorney to do the writing of these policies for them as well as regularly update them.

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 they automatically update the policies for you.

Sure thing! Click here to book a call with me to discuss your website policies:  https://calendly.com/applewoodinteractive/privacy-compliance

Yes, but I’m not charging the usual new page fee for these since it’s literally just copying/pasting code that you send over to me via email or share with me via one of the tools above.

If you have me do this for you, the fee would be $100 for me to install the proper plugin, and link to up to 4 policies for you. You will need to provide me with the code from whichever tool you choose or share the license with me at casey@applewoodinteractive.com.

I will also configure the cookies banner used on your website (using Complianz or Termly’s tool), and add a link to it at the top of your Privacy Policy as well.

As a part of the $100 fee, I will also go into your Google Analytics account and make sure that is set up to only track IP addresses anonymously, which is another legal requirement. If I don’t already have access to your GA account, you will need to provide me with this.

As with everything else on your website, you can also do all of this on your own – these are all great tools that use a wizard format to tell you what you need to do.

The only thing I cannot help with is configuring your policies for you. That would be me giving legal advice and instruction, which I cannot do. Complianz, Termageddon, and Termly can all help you with this though via email, chat, or phone depending on which tool you choose.

Terms of Service is a great way to answer frequently asked customer questions and protect yourself from liability. Terms of Service provides 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 website.

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.

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.

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 less likely to buy from companies that do not respect their privacy.

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.

The laws that are in place and that are proposed protect the residents 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.