Customer Privacy Policies

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has become increasingly vigilant about protecting the privacy and personal information of website visitors. The FTC has determined that it can be a “deceptive” practice for a business to use visitor information without fully disclosing those uses to the visitor.

You do not want the FTC to find that your business is deceiving consumers – a situation that the FTC was formed to prevent. If you or your company collects and uses visitor or customer information, it is very important that you clearly post on your website a detailed privacy policy disclosing your use of that information. Failure to do so can result in civil and criminal prosecution by the FTC. For example, in July of this year Twitter agreed to settle privacy violation charges brought by the FTC with a consent order and a civil penalty of up to $16,000 for EACH violation of the order. The order will last for 20 years.

Examples of subjects that might be included in a website privacy policy include:

• customer information required to use the website

• how you can use the customer’s information

• whether cookies, web beacons and other similar items are used by your website and how they are used

• email inquiries

• information collected by your ISP (internet service provider), website hosting company, etc.

• release of information for legal reasons (such as subpoenas)

• how your customers can access or change their information

• procedures for notifying customers if private information is compromised

• data security and risks inherent with information sharing

• compliance with California Online Privacy Protection Act of 2003 (which applies to all websites viewed by California residents even if the website is located elsewhere)

DMCA

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act helps protect website owners, social media facilitators and web hosting businesses against copyright claims caused by third parties posting illegally copied material on their site or service. One of the most useful provisions of the Act protects against copyright liability if the owner adheres to certain safe harbor guidelines, including posting procedures for demanding that copyrighted material be removed from the website. Business owners should strongly consider posting DMCA notices on their websites to help avoid inadvertent copyright liability.

COPPA

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act is designed to protect children from predators who obtain their identity and other information online. Compliance with the statutes can be complex, but it basically divides websites into two groups: sites that seek information from children under 13 years old and sites that do not. Sites that commonly obtain information from young children include on-line game sites, cartoon sites and the like. Compliance for these sites can be complex and usually requires parent approval separate from the child's registration. For other websites, i.e., those not directed to children and not obtaining information from them, compliance is easier and primarily requires disclaimers.