08-19-2006, 05:48 AM
Today's topic: Privacy Policies
http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...546.0.html
from Yahoo Stores:
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/store/edit/edit-12.html
http://www.p3pprivacy.com/
...and now we go to my selection for Boinktard of the Day
New forum owner asks "do I need a privacy policy?". The answer he receives from today's Boinktard of the Day:
Clueless in suburban Virginia is someone who really is totally clueless. : She's currently running a multi-seller site which accepts payments from users but has no privacy policy or terms of service (with the exception of a sentence that says the site operates on the "honor system" ). This is also someone who thinks the way to advertise an online business is through forum spam...and then wonders why her online ventures haven't done too well. Read her quote and do the opposite because that is about the worst advice I've seen given anywhere and is completely wrong.
Your commercial website, or membership site needs a privacy policy (and other policies including return policies for ecommerce sites) for 2 reasons:
1. to increase buyer trust in your business. Trust is an essential factor in many buyers decisions to buy or not to buy from small unknown websites, or to join or not join membership sites. A recent survery in Internet Retailer found that 40% of buyers actually do look for Privacy Policies when buying from sites (and surprise, many of them do more than just look for a link to a policy, they actually read it). If your site doesn't have a privacy policy there's a good chance many buyers in that 40% group will decide to buy elsewhere. If your unknown membership site or forum doesn't have a privacy policy there's a good chance many lurkers will remain lurkers and never join.
2. the primary reason to have a privacy policy, and also terms and conditions, or user agreements, or policies pages, or return policies (a return policy is another essential for an ecommerce site) listed on your site is to (attempt to) protect your fr_k'n ass as much as possible from any negative event you can think of....see here for an example of a terms of condition deigned for this purpose.
Short version: if you have a website that collects any personal information (i.e. email addresses and/or names, addresses, credit card details, etc, etc.) you need to have a privacy policy: it can either be a separate policy or it can be incorporated into your site's terms and conditions (although a separate privacy policy is more effective for building buyer trust).
More resources for Privacy policy information:
The W3C 's Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) Project http://www.w3.org/P3P/
Online Privacy Alliance: http://www.privacyalliance.com/
Truste: http://www.truste.org/
The Direct Marketing Association's online privacy policy generator:
http://www.the-dma.org/privacy/creating.shtml
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development guide to creating privacy policies
http://www.oecd.org/document/1/0,2340,en..._1,00.html
Info on privacy policies and an online privacy policy generator from P3P Privacy: http://www.p3pprivacy.com/
Quote:Disclaimer or Privacy Policy
This is not a rule: its a must! Companies deal with clients; people who wish their privacy to be protected and sometimes other sites can provide illegal or harmful information...The privacy policy is, according to the same source, a disclaimer as well: A privacy policy is a disclaimer placed on a website informing users about how the website deals with a user's personal information.
Put simply, maintaining audience expectations and delivering usable content are the main factors influencing the success of a business website. But the website architecture has to be followed by a cutting edge design and reliable ways to increase users loyalty.
http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...546.0.html
from Yahoo Stores:
Quote: You are required to have a Privacy Policy page in your store at all times. This page has to be created and approved before your store is open for business.
Under the Yahoo! Merchant Solutions Terms of Service, merchants agree:
... to post a privacy policy in its Merchant Store that, at a minimum, discloses any and all uses of personal information collected from users by Merchant.
Each privacy policy should be specific to the web site or merchant who creates it. Only you, the merchant, can say whether your privacy policy accurately describes your use of personal information collected from your users
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/store/edit/edit-12.html
Quote:How willing are you to buy online?
If you're skeptical, you can't expect your customers to feel any differently. Before they'll transact, customers need to feel safe.
Part of that safe feeling is the knowledge that their privacy is respected, which is why Internet privacy policies are so important. Research shows that consumers are more likely to complete online transactions if they know beforehand how their personal information is going to be used.
In fact, legislation in several Countries and US States now require online businesses to disclose their privacy policies before customers are asked to register any details.
http://www.p3pprivacy.com/
...and now we go to my selection for Boinktard of the Day
New forum owner asks "do I need a privacy policy?". The answer he receives from today's Boinktard of the Day:
clueless in suburban Virginia Wrote:This is yet another subject that I've never been able to figure out what the fuss is all about. In reality something like that [a privacy policy] can only harm you and the life of the forum.
Clueless in suburban Virginia is someone who really is totally clueless. : She's currently running a multi-seller site which accepts payments from users but has no privacy policy or terms of service (with the exception of a sentence that says the site operates on the "honor system" ). This is also someone who thinks the way to advertise an online business is through forum spam...and then wonders why her online ventures haven't done too well. Read her quote and do the opposite because that is about the worst advice I've seen given anywhere and is completely wrong.
Your commercial website, or membership site needs a privacy policy (and other policies including return policies for ecommerce sites) for 2 reasons:
1. to increase buyer trust in your business. Trust is an essential factor in many buyers decisions to buy or not to buy from small unknown websites, or to join or not join membership sites. A recent survery in Internet Retailer found that 40% of buyers actually do look for Privacy Policies when buying from sites (and surprise, many of them do more than just look for a link to a policy, they actually read it). If your site doesn't have a privacy policy there's a good chance many buyers in that 40% group will decide to buy elsewhere. If your unknown membership site or forum doesn't have a privacy policy there's a good chance many lurkers will remain lurkers and never join.
2. the primary reason to have a privacy policy, and also terms and conditions, or user agreements, or policies pages, or return policies (a return policy is another essential for an ecommerce site) listed on your site is to (attempt to) protect your fr_k'n ass as much as possible from any negative event you can think of....see here for an example of a terms of condition deigned for this purpose.
Short version: if you have a website that collects any personal information (i.e. email addresses and/or names, addresses, credit card details, etc, etc.) you need to have a privacy policy: it can either be a separate policy or it can be incorporated into your site's terms and conditions (although a separate privacy policy is more effective for building buyer trust).
More resources for Privacy policy information:
The W3C 's Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) Project http://www.w3.org/P3P/
Online Privacy Alliance: http://www.privacyalliance.com/
Truste: http://www.truste.org/
The Direct Marketing Association's online privacy policy generator:
http://www.the-dma.org/privacy/creating.shtml
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development guide to creating privacy policies
http://www.oecd.org/document/1/0,2340,en..._1,00.html
Info on privacy policies and an online privacy policy generator from P3P Privacy: http://www.p3pprivacy.com/