From the NY Shield Act to GDPR, Website Disclosures are now more important than ever!
If you are operating a website without policy and legal disclosures, then it is time to get on board.
Website disclosures are for your protection. They can help keep you out of court and may be your best defense if a lawsuit was brought stemming from use of your website.
Don’t settle for boiler plate disclosure documents. Many of these are non-sensical or do not actually cover how your site operates. Donaldson Legal Counseling PLLC reviews your sites complete functionality with you, and tailors all disclosure documents to fit your site, based on exactly how it is operating, to maximize your legal protections.
Terms of Service are the terms that you set for the public to interact with your website and also generally include required state and federal disclosures concerning site content.
Think mere browsing of your site is not a legal risk? Think again. By allowing the public to interact with your site without providing specific disclosures you could already be in violation of state or federal laws.
Specific laws covered in the Terms of Service include data collection disclosures not otherwise provided in the Privacy Policy, intellectual property rights, disclaimers of liability, third-party use of data, terms of interacting with third-parties through the site, policies that are prohibited when interacting with the site, account and password information, governing law, remedy for violation of the Terms of Service, and Reporting and Contact information.
Terms of Use are the terms that the users of your site will need to agree to in order to either create an account on your site, make a purchase, or do some action that is different than just browsing.
The terms of use generally include the terms of the transaction at hand or terms of the increased interaction with the use of the site, third-party terms of use and interaction if relevant, disclaimers, disclosures, policies that are prohibited when interacting with the site, governing law, remedy for violation of the Terms of Service, and Reporting and Contact information.
The Privacy Policy is where you disclose what user data your site is collecting, and how that information is being used. Date your site might collect could include location data, payment data, user name and password, credit card or banking information, videos, photos, or posts. You also include how users can adjust data privacy controls on the site.
Doing business with Europe? The GDPR rules may apply to your site. GDPR rules go to not only to data collected, but also impact how data is stored and tracked, so that it can all be deleted upon specific request. Don’t go it alone.
The Services Agreement governs how others provide services through your website. This Agreement includes indemnification provisions to protect you from third-party liability, sets the rules for how persons interact through you site, governs payment processes for giving and receiving funds, and provides for remedies upon breach.
