A privacy policy is required if you are collecting personally identifiable information from the people visiting your website, blogs, e-commerce stores, mobile app, etc.  Personally identifiable information is any kind of data that can identify an individual, such as their email address, first and last name, address, phone number, credit card information, and so on.  This requirement applies to all websites, big or small. If you own a small business or even just write a blog for fun, you might be surprised to find that you need a privacy policy. You might not even be aware that you are collecting various forms of information from your visitors, tracking them with analytics, or displaying ads. Whether you are collecting information for marketing purposes, maintaining contact lists, adding people to an email or newsletter list or to process payments, a privacy policy is needed to ensure sensitive data is being properly collected and stored. Also, many third party service providers such as Google and other major online companies require that you have specific disclosures in your privacy policy to comply with their terms of service.

A privacy policy is an agreement that details your policy and procedures for collecting, using, and protecting personally identifiable information. Your privacy policy must be specific to the types of information you collect and detail the procedures you use to protect it.  This is why it is not sufficient to copy another website’s privacy policy.  There are too many variables that need to be taken in consideration when drafting your privacy policy and an experienced lawyer can help you create one that caters to your specific needs and that is in compliance with laws governing website privacy policies.

There are federal, state and international laws that protect the website visitor and if a business fails to display and follow its privacy policy then they may face lawsuits, legal fees, and/or fines.  Delta Airlines, SnapChat, Google and many more companies have all faced lawsuits over questionable privacy policies.  It is imperative that you safeguard your visitors’ personal information and detail this policy so that a data breach can be prevented and lawsuits can be avoided.