We’ve been writing regularly on the topic of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) since the one year countdown last May and last month, we looked at the best place to start for any businesses that have still to prepare for the new legislation. We are now pleased to announce that we have three templates available from our preferred supplier to help businesses with three aspects of getting their website GDPR ready.
The three areas the templates apply to are Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and Cookies. Each template has been independently verified by a solicitor, barrister and US attorney and comes with comprehensive notes for ease of use. We thought we’d highlight just why these three areas are so important to get right when it comes to the new GDPR.
Privacy Policy
Those of us who were around when the internet first went mainstream will most likely remember dutifully scrolling through Privacy Policies, but with web use now ubiquitous on both a personal and business level, when faced with a lengthy Privacy Policy (in 2010, Facebook’s was longer than the US Constitution) the majority of us now simply tick the box and carry on. It is precisely this type of Privacy Policy that the new GDPR is attempting to address. From 25th May 2018, it is no longer acceptable for a website to link to a long Privacy Policy, instead, the Privacy Policy should be concise, easily accessible and written in easily understandable language (imagine you are addressing a child) and gain proven consent from the user.
Terms of Use
The same principles used when creating a GDPR compliant Privacy Policy should be used to create a compliant Terms of Use. Making sure the text is in plain sight and uses clear, plain language is a good place to start, and if you are asking for consent, consider adding a double opt in mechanism. Once a user has ticked the original consent form an email is generated with a link asking them to click to verify their consent. Adding a double opt in often doesn’t take that much extra work and means that no one can ‘accidentally’ consent.
Cookies
In a document as long as GDPR, Cookies are only mentioned once, however the implications of GDPR on this data tracking tool are not to be ignored. Cookies provide valuable insights to marketing teams but if the cookies on your website identify either a person or a device (and most of them do) this is now classed as personal data: your website will not be compliant with the new regulation and risks incurring a financial penalty. If you wish to continue using Cookies on your website in the same way, your website users must be able to either consent to, or reject, the use of cookies. Consent, as with Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, must be valid, proven and easy to withdraw.
With less than three months to go, getting your business GDPR complaint can feel, at times, a mammoth task.
We hope that our templates will assist you and you can find the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and Cookies here. Please use the discount code tiptop£15reduction at the checkout.
We can also save you a lot of time with our Done-For-You-Service. To find out more give Colin Edwards a call on 020 3234 0090 or drop us an email quoting GDPR in the subject line