Last week, I talked a little about terms of use and why your website needs one. The TOU is only one of several documents that most website needs – websites typically also need privacy policies and copyright policies. Today you get to learn a little about what privacy policies are and when websites need them.

What is a privacy policy?

A privacy policy explains what you as the website owner do with the information you gain about website users. For instance, you may gain information about people through web-logging software such as Google Analytics. You may ask users to submit their names, birth dates, or email addresses to your site. You may request credit card payments from users or mailing addresses. All of this information collected will be used for various things. You may use someone’s name for both the username on the account and to mail them direct mail. You may collect analytic information to sell to marketers. A good privacy policy will go over what you collect, how you use it, how others use it, and where it will end up.

Does every website need one?

Most websites need privacy policies. Almost all websites collect some type of information. If you believe you do not need a privacy policy, it is always best to run this by an attorney to make sure it is true. Many privacy policies are fairly boiler plate; however, it is important to ask your attorney if there are any issues that aren’t addressed in your particular situation that should be as boiler plate text only works to a certain extent.

If you have a website and are wondering if your privacy policy is sufficient or if you need one written, contact your Denver business contract attorney today at 720-258-6647.