Privacy Law Compliance
Made Easy

Yes, they do. Not addressing their privacy concerns could negatively affect your business reputation, causing potential customers to trust you less.

The majority of people are concerned and feel a lack of control over their personal information. According to Pew Research Center:

• 81% feel they have very little or no control over the data that companies collect about them.
• 81% of Americans say that the potential risks they face because of data collection by companies outweigh the benefits.
• 79% are concerned about the way their data is being used by companies.
• 72% say they personally benefit very little or none from data collected about them
• 79% say they are not too or not at all confident that companies will admit mistakes and take responsibility if they misuse or compromise personal information.
• 69% lack confidence that firms will use their personal information in ways they are comfortable with.
• Only 6% believe their data is more secure today than it was in the past.

You may think since your business isn’t located in Europe or California, Privacy Laws such as the European Union’s GDPR or California’s CCPA don’t apply to you. But really, they do.

It’s not where you are, it’s where your visitors and customers are located that matters. And that includes a growing list of states including Nevada, Massachusetts, New York, Hawaii, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and countries like Canada, Mexico, and on and on.

There are many, many privacy laws all over the world. Here’s a short list of most concern for American business websites:

• California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA” & “CPRA”)
• California Online Privacy Protection Act of 2003 (“CalOPPA”)
• Colorado Privacy Act
• Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (“VCDPA”)
• Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 603A
• Massachusetts Data Privacy Law
• New York Privacy Act
• Hawaii Consumer Privacy Protection Act
• Maryland Online Consumer Protection Act
• Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act
• Delaware Online Privacy and Protection Act (“DOPPA”)
• and at least 10 more states with draft legislation in session.
• Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”)
• European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”)
• E-Privacy Cookie Directive
• German EUGH Cookie Law
• Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”)
• Mexico’s Federal Data Protection Law
• plus laws in dozens of other countries from Argentina to Japan, South Africa to Australia.

And it’s guaranteed that more will be passed in the future.

PII is any information about an individual, including:

• any information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual‘s identity,
• any other information that is linked or linkable to an individual,
• static identifiers that consistently link to a particular person or small, well-defined group of people.

PII includes the obvious data like name, email, street address, phone number, purchase history, bank details, and facial photographs. It is also data that indirectly identifies a user such as:

• their preferences
• demographic information
• the cookies your website sets in a visitor’s browser
• data that is automatically transmitted by the user’s browser or collected by your website’s analytics service
• how they are connecting to the internet
• their IP address
• what they do on your website
• browsing history
• geolocation data

You most likely are collecting and storing personal information about your visitors if your website includes:

• Contact forms,
• You ask people to send you an email,
• Make sales on your website,
• Offer online payment processing,
• Accept job applications.

But importantly, you are collecting personal information even if you are not directly asking for it, with common website features such as: 

• Any analytics tracking service such as free Google Analytics,
• Use a service that helps you understand how people are using your website, such as heat maps or session recordings,
• Your website sets cookies in your visitor’s browser (hint: It does!),
• You show third-party ads on your website from an outside service.

Privacy and Cookie Policies

A Privacy Policy is required and must inform your visitors:

• what information you collect
• what you do with it
• who you give it to
• how you secure it

A Cookie Policy is also required. Cookies are able to track user behavior and are therefore a potential privacy risk.

Your Cookie Policy informs visitors:

• the purpose of the cookies installed,
• what data you’re collecting,
• how you’re using the data,
• names the third parties who install or may install cookies through your website
• links to the third parties’ privacy policy and possible consent forms,
• inform people how they can opt out or change their settings.

Cookie Consent / Right to Delete

Many Privacy Laws like the GDPR go further and require you to:

• Inform visitors about the cookies your website sets and what they do
• Allow them to give permission or refuse those cookies before they are set
• Give visitors the right to change their consent decision later
• Allow them to request a report of all the personal information you have collected about them
• Properly respond to requests in a timely manner
• To completely delete the private information you have collected about them
• To opt-out of the sale of their private information
• To non-discrimination for exercising their legal rights
• Quickly notify your visitors in the event of a data breach

You can imagine the technical requirements to automate this on your website is rather complicated. It’s certainly not something you want to do manually.

With all the data privacy laws around the world, and new laws being passed all the time, it’s almost impossible to manually keep track of information you are responsible for!

My Privacy Suite automates the technical requirements and updates your policies when laws change or new laws are passed. It all happens without any attention or effort on your part!

• Visitors will trust your business less if they don’t find Privacy features on your website.
• New leads and sales may be delayed or lost if people are unsure how you will handle their personal information.
• Fines imposed by governments can range from $2500-$7500 per violation (per website visitor)!
• Consumers can bring private lawsuits against you.

No. My Privacy Suite fulfills the disclosure and technical requirements on your website. You are still responsible for following your posted policies. We cannot guarantee that.