Why Every Blog Needs A Privacy Policy etc

I remember the first time I had heard of Privacy Policy, Disclaimer and Terms and Conditions for a blog. It was sometime last year when the bloggers far and wide were hit with an important change in the data privacy regulation – GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation. In other words, we were told that ‘every blog needs a privacy policy. I confess, until then, I didn’t give much thought about legalities of my blogs because these were too formal for my style of blogging.

I believe, a majority of us started our blogging journey under the impression that it was going to be just another hobby where you could write your heart out when the kids go to school or when you get back home from work. But then, your blog started growing and you are being read by not only just friends and family but from readers across the world. You’re approached by brands for collaborations and you’ve grown to a savvy entrepreneur. Your blog should, hence, be not only user-friendly but also compliant with legal requirements.

But isn’t it then mandatory to have a privacy policy, disclaimer and T&C when you start a blog? you may ask.

Why every blog needs a privacy policy, disclaimer and T&C

Let me explain.

Privacy Policy

A Privacy Policy page is required for your blog by law if you deal with personal identifiable information. In simple words, if you are collecting data like name, email address, phone number, website information or an IP address, you ought to have a privacy policy in place.

An IP address is collected when people visit your website. You must also not overlook the comment form or subscription forms on your website where you collect the email address of your subscribers. Personal information is also collected if you use third-party apps and services which include Google Analytics and Adsense.

Therefore, EVERY blog, old or new, MUST have a Privacy Policy page if it is public and expects to have people visit their website.

What should be included in a Privacy Policy page?

A privacy policy page must include:

1. Blog owner details: It is mandatory to mention your name and work email address on the Privacy Policy page.
2. What you intend to do with the personal information you collect: As mentioned earlier, you will collect the user’s name and email address through the chats, comment forms, subscription forms, and newsletter forms. You may also ask a user to sign up for a freebie using an email opt-in. You may also need their credit card information if you are selling a product. You could unknowingly collect information from website visitors through cookies and tracking technologies enabled on your website. Therefore, it is only fair that the user ought to know how you will use their personal information and if and under what circumstance you will disclose those to third-party services.
3. Liability of Third party privacy policies: As a blogger, you will share affiliate links on your website to advertise their products and services. These third-party services including Amazon Affiliate and Google Adsense have privacy policies of their own. Hence, in your privacy policy, you should clearly disregard and dismiss any liability that comes your way in using these services.
4. Process of notifying the changes to your privacy policy: You should also mention how you shall notify the users of any changes or updates to your privacy policy with the effective date. For example, you would have emailed your subscribers when GDPR came into existence.
5. Rights of the users as per the GDPR regulations: As per the latest GDPR regulations, you are bound to inform the users their rights as to requesting, viewing, transferring and erasing their data.

Remember that the GDPR policy imposes strict regulations to protect the privacy of people in the European Union accessing websites, irrespective of which part of the world the websites are located.

Disclaimer

A disclaimer is what protects you from the liability of the content that you write on your blog. It, in fact, says that you cannot be held legally responsible for the general advice you give on your blog. For example, if you are writing about a diet plan that you followed, it shouldn’t be misinterpreted as an advice from a dietician or nutritionist. If someone follows this diet plan and didn’t get the desired results as you did, you could be sued by him/her. You wouldn’t want that and that’s why a proper disclaimer must be in place.

A disclaimer is different from disclosure. A disclaimer is clearly defined to your niche .A disclosure is the declaration of information pertaining to a product or service that you advertise. Usually, it is written at the beginning of a sponsored post adhering to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines.

| We have written a detailed blog post on Sponsored Posts and the different FTC Rules and Disclosures one must comply with.

Terms and Conditions

T&C also referred to as Terms of Use or Terms of Service are the general rules and guidelines of using your website. It includes

1. Limitation of liability protecting you from the damage caused by using your blog. It is similar to the disclosure.
2. Legitimate use of your blog mentioning about avoiding profanity, not engaging in abusive discussions and spamming of your website.
3.  Protection of your work covering intellectual copyrights. For example, you can mention that a user is welcome to read and access your blog, but cannot use, copy or download any written word, images or graphics.
4. Exchange or refund regulations if you sell any product through your website.
5. Reservation of your rights as the owner of your blog for updating any legal documents or termination of contracts or users.

Keep in mind that you do not copy someone’s disclaimer and T&C for they should be tailored for your blog based on your affiliates and niche.  You can always generate your own policy, through http://www.disclosurepolicy.org. There are also many free templates available for you to come up with a Privacy Policy for your blog. I have used iubenda (not sponsored) to create mine. They have a limited free version and an affordable plan which helps in generating precise privacy policies.

Do you have all the legal documents in place for your blog? Take these steps to protect you from any liability and also, for a professional image of your brand and smooth running of your blog.