Preventing Liability by Using a Privacy Policy

privacy policy

There is a certain excitement that takes over when you first start a blog online. You are finally getting your viewpoint out there for everyone to read, your opinions carry weight with your readers, and you strive to provide fresh, exciting content to engage your audience. While this is certainly exciting, there are also some serious issues you’ll have to deal with during your climb into the media sphere. One of these issues is minimizing liability. Once you are gaining profit for your blog, you are running a business and in need of the same liability protection other online businesses require. A privacy policy is not only helpful for legal purposes, but it helps in building trust with online customers and readers, according to WP Dev Shed. One means of providing this type of protection is through the use of a privacy policy generator.

liability management

Why You Need Protection

Any blogger who collects visitors’ personal information needs to have a privacy policy in place. With news of hacking and exposure of information in the news every day, it’s up to you to be open and honest about how you collect users’ information, and what you intend to do with it. These policies are important because they let visitors who share their information with you know the ways in which that information will be used by the blogger and the site’s advertisers and sponsors if that information is shared. Being upfront and transparent about this prevents people from later holding a blogger liable for misusing the information they shared with them or that the blogger shared with an advertiser or sponsor. Because of the potential legal repercussions, it’s easy to see why it is so important that these policies not only need to present, but also well written and accurate.

Privacy policies are needed for almost any website that obtains personal information either passively via cookies or by directly asking that it be provided – for instance, requiring membership or sign in via third-party authentication such as Facebook, Google Mail, or Yahoo in order to comment on entries. Daily Blog Tips advises bloggers to be mindful that with the multiple technological threats websites face, it’s a good idea to have privacy policy protection, even if people are allowed to make anonymous posts. The blog also emphasizes the need for these policies for those who may use cookies on their websites. It is important to have complete transparency as to how all visitor information is used. So creating one from scratch on your own may not be the most prudent idea. Instead, do it right the first time by using a reputable free privacy policy generator.

Changing Your Policy as Your Business Changes

A privacy policy is worded to the specifics of your business, your site, and the policies in place governing your use of visitor information. These are aspects of your business which may change as your business and blog change and grow. Other changes in technology may require changes in policy to match the advances in threat protection or alert visitors when new threats arise. Even changes in law governing Internet use over various jurisdictions could require operational changes on the fly. When this happens, you need to reword the privacy policy on your website. Just the same as putting a privacy policy in place, changing the wording of one should to be handled by an expert.  Reputable online sources like Shopify offering privacy policy generator template will offer you the option to have the wording of your policy match your specific needs. A good privacy policy generator will also allow you go back and make changes when necessary. Others can offer insurance, much like a tax preparation service offers audit protection, or  to have a lawyer on staff make sure your policy is legally sound enough to hold up to challenge in a court of law, though of course additional fees will apply.

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Mobile Protection

If you decide to make the move to incorporate a mobile app for your blog, then you will need additional liability protection. This is one of the items that gets overlooked by most people. You may think that your privacy policy will cover both your website and mobile platform, but the two are considered different entities and both need to have a comprehensive policy across platforms to keep you safe. Unscrupulous advertisers and sponsors have been known to take advantage of user information available to them through a mobile app, according to TheFutureOfThings.

Make sure you find a free privacy policy generator that covers the specifics of your particular business, will continue to update and tweak your policy as your business grows, and incorporates mobile elements to ensure your website gets the protection you need. All of this serves not just to protect you from liability, but it also helps you stand out as a professional with open and transparent policies for your visitors.

Thumbnail image by iubenda.com (iubenda also generates privacy policies)

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