Web Policies – Part 1 – Display Websites and Blogs
Hello,
In the process of creating a website or a blog, where we publish articles, comes the time to put online the policy that will regulate the behavior of readers who comments articles, as well as the rights of disclaimer of third-party content, along with the elements that protect the content of our websites and their limitations of liability.
Let's look at the required elements of the regular website policy or a blog that publishes articles with supporting materials (images, clips, music, and other original article support).
For this article, I suggest listening to the opening track A Rush of Blood to the Head! MusicScore: Politik from Coldplay.
Listen to the MusicScore complete list on YouTube! Enjoy the Music At Work!
This article offers you an example of a website policy for companies located in Quebec with a posting website or a blog, without a subscription system.
The Website Policies
In addition, the second part of this paper demonstrates the steps to follow when including a subscription list on a website using an email distribution system. For the exercise, I chose the MailChimp distribution platform, but the process is mostly the same for our web policies, no matter which application you decide to use. And since we add a mailing list, this website also need a contact form and the policies that comes with it too. Part 2 of this paper will be published March 4, 2024.
Note that these examples of website policies are intended for companies that operate in the territory of Quebec, Canada, as of March 2024. If your company's head office is not in Quebec, I advise you to check your government's website to check the e-commerce laws of your region or country, as well as the privacy and responsibilities of your website publisher. This paper will be adapted with law and regulation updates.
Start the process of creating a website policy
Find the right documentation
Before starting to producing a Terms and Conditions policy, or a Privacy Act, I suggest checking the appropriate laws. I always go back to read the posting rules for businesses by the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec to learn about confidentiality, the merchant section of the website of the Office de la protection du consommateur and Légis Québec to check for online commerce responsibilities, and finally in terms of documentation, I love the site of LawDepot.
There are several examples of policies on the web and many paid services are offered to carry out this task for businesses. However, I like to know these rules as a webmaster who has the responsibility of putting truthful content on the web, and as an entrepreneur.
The type of website configuration
Also, site policies must be created according to the configuration and design of your tool. Listing the services offered is the first thing to do in my opinion. Does our site only display documentation, can visitors comment, give feedback, fill out a contact form, subscribe to an email and product alert list, and finally is there a transactional system directly on the domain, or a third-party transaction service or only billing.
Organize the access to data
Once our list is established, I go on to mention the information requested (data) from visitors for each type of service while noting who has access to each of these data in the company; information that will be important for companies that will have to comply to security standards, such as PCI (the security standard of the payment card industry).
Wiki says: The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is an information security standard used to handle credit cards from major card brands. The standard is administered by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council, and its use is mandated by the card brands. It was created to better control cardholder data and reduce credit card fraud.
I had the chance to manage a project to comply with PCI DSS standards for a networked computer system of several thousand users. It was a project of several years where I learn all the risks of fraudulent use of payment instruments and especially the impacts of each security breach. We submitted a document of several hundred pages to meet a list of several hundred criteria, ranging from the location of a server in a building to the configuration of access to accounting reports. In short, what was the first step of this project, which required to manage the configuration of several thousands of users in several systems? The answer: list the accesses of customer’s data for each user! Yes, I'm telling you right away if you plan a compliance process, as soon as there is more than one user in a system, start your list of data access per user in your administrative process. Do it right away from the start.
Advertising
The Privacy Policy and the Terms and Condition of posting Websites and Blogs
Posting site and blog, i.e. a page site that displays information, a block of articles or galleries with the option of visitor’s comment.
Let's start the exercise of creating a policy for a simple website, or blog, that uses a regular publishing platform (CMS), such as Wordpress. The site uses the basic statistics collection options via the Analytics options of the CMS and has a policy for displaying the use of Cookies which is displayed as a banner when a user visits the site.
An Idea of the Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy operates in parallel with the Site's Terms and Conditions of Use. Both policies are subject to change at any time. When you visit this site, you accept the policy as it is at the time of your visit.
Applicable Laws
This policy complies with the laws set out in the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).
For residents of EU countries, this Privacy Policy is intended to comply with the GDPR. If there are any inconsistencies between this policy and the GDPR, the GDPR will apply, including the clarification of persons under the age of 15 who need to have the consent of a legal representative to consult this site, since there is data collection.
For residents of the State of California, this Privacy Policy is intended to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). If there are any inconsistencies between this document and the CCPA, state law will apply.
Consent
Users agree that by using the site, there is consent:
The terms set forth in this Privacy Policy.
The collection, use and retention of data listed in this policy.
When you visit and use the site, the following information is collected automatically:
IP address
The Venue
Hardware and software
Links viewed by the user when visiting the site
The content viewed by the user when visiting the site
The personal data collected on our site will only be used for the purposes specified in this policy or indicated on the relevant pages of our site. We will not use your data beyond what we disclose.
The automatically collected data is used for statistical purposes and to improve the visitor experience.
The site also gives the user the opportunity to comment in the Reader's Comment section of each article on the Marketing Blog. This data may be collected using the following non-mandatory or solicited methods: opinion piece.
The data collected voluntarily in the comments helps to achieve the purpose set forth in this Privacy Policy. No additional data will be collected without first informing you. The data collected when the user performs certain functions may be used for the purpose of improving the website and the writing of articles.
Access to personal data:
Employees: Any member of the organization may access the data in the course of his or her duties only as set out in this policy. Employees must follow this Privacy Act.
Third party: No user data is shared with a third party. In this event, the third party will access user data in the course of its functions as set out in this policy for the duration of the purpose of its functions. Third Party must follow this Privacy Act.
Other Disclosures: (Company Name) agrees not to sell or share the data with third parties except as required by law, as required for any legal proceeding, to prove or protect the legal rights of (Company Name) or for buyers or potential buyers of (Company Name) in the event of a sale of the Company, or one of its entities.
Third-Party Links: (Company Name) is not responsible for, and has no control over, the privacy policies and the usage policy of the site and the company receiving the visitor.
Conservation and Protection: User data collected by this site is retained beyond what is necessary to achieve the purposes for which it is collected: statistics and improving the visitor experience. The data is stored in a secure system, managed with the utmost reasonable care by (Company Name) to ensure the security and protection of users.
User Rights: A user has the right to access all of their collected personal data and to be able to update or correct it provided that the request is compatible with the law. A user may withdraw or change his/her consent at any time, provided that it is legally possible and acceptable to do so, within a reasonable period of time.
The person responsible for confidentiality is: (Name of Security Officer) + (At least one of the following 3 pieces of information: address, email and phone)
Use of cookies
By using this site, you agree to the use of cookies and the interpretation of visit data via the Analytics report. We use cookies to provide you with an improved experience and to optimize the proper functioning of our website:
IP address without personal identification
Your Internet service provider and operating system (e.g., Mac OS, Windows)
The type and model of device (e.g., iPhone 11) and screen resolution of the device
Browser type, language, version, and other data (e.g., Chrome, Safari)
The region or municipality, as determined by IP address
The domain of the previous site visited
The point of origin (e.g., banner, email, social network, etc.)
The pages viewed on the site (the sequence of visits, interactions within the page, the date, time, duration and frequency of your visits, and your activities (clicks, scrolling, etc.)
Contact
For more information, please contact: (At least one of the following 3 pieces of information: address, email and phone)
This policy is effective as of (Date).
An idea of the Terms and Conditions policy
And now that your blog respects the privacy of visitors, you need a policy that will protect your site, your content, the disclaimer of your material as well as the guidelines that users must follow on your virtual space.
Many will refer to this policy as the General Conditions or the Instructions for Use. For my part, I use Terms and Conditions. No matter what name you choose, or whether you decide to include it in your privacy policy in order to have a single web page of policies to manage, the important thing is to put on your site these indications that protect your content.
Intellectual property
The Site, as well as its content, logo, text, designs, graphics, service names, audio or video clips, digital downloads, data compilations and software, are owned by (Company Name) or are used under license and are protected under Canadian and international copyright law. Use of the site does not transfer any ownership or other rights with respect to the Site or its contents.
The user agrees to use the site legally and not to use this site for illicit purposes, namely:
Harass or abuse other users of the site
Violate the rights of other users of the site
Violate the intellectual property rights of the owners of the site or any third party to the site
Hack another site user's account
Act in any way that could be considered fraudulent
Participate in any illegal activity on the Site
Post any material that may be deemed inappropriate or offensive
If (Company Name) believes that a user is using this site illegally or in a way that violates the Terms of Use, the right of access will be withdrawn and legal action may be taken accordingly.
Contribution and Limitation of User Liability
Users can post editorial content and information on this site via the Public Comments section of each article. By publicly posting on this site, the user agrees to act legally in accordance with these Site Privacy and Use Policies. (Company Name) or any of its employees shall not be liable for any problems arising from any User Content or any improper use of this site.
Indemnity: As a user, you hereby indemnify (Company Name) from any and all liabilities, costs, causes of action, damages, or expenses arising out of your use of this site or your violation of any of the provisions set forth herein.
(Company Name) reserves the right to remove any comment posted at any time.
Contact
For more information, please contact: (At least one of the following 3 pieces of information: address, email and phone)
This policy is effective as of (Date).
The first websites usage and privacy policies
And now that's a well-politicized blog! The next step would normally be to integrate a subscription system into this blog. I'll share it all with you in a future report.
At the beginning of my professional career, I worked with sites that didn't have a usage policy, purchase guidelines, or any kind of accountability. It was also the time when we saw a lot of things with the first users of the Internet. As much as there was a percentage of the population who refused to put a credit card number in a transactional system for fear of this new technology, there were also those who wasted themselves in an extreme and unsupervised use of purchases to impress their friends with multiple non-refundable transactions from transactions whose communication between the two servers had been cut off at the time of confirmation, normality over time. Those were the days of manually checking the day's transactions, a delight!
This article is the first of a serie of reports to explain the policies for several websites structures
Posting website and blogging with the visitor's comment option.
Posting website with subscription via the MailChimp service with a contact form.
Also coming up
Professional website service with contract billing: using products and services with contract billing; Publication to be announced before summer 2024.
Professional website service with contracted billing and subscription by a third-party service: use of a product and service with contracted billing and subscription via the MailChimp service; Publication to be announced before summer 2024.
E-commerce website with online billing; Publication to be announced before fall 2024.
E-commerce website with online billing and paying membership subscription with a client data base; Publication to be announced before fall 2024.
All articles will be available under the web policies tag.
Conclusion
I don't know if I'm normal, but I love reading and working on website policies. I've seen the evolution of protecting website designers and users since the beginning, and I have to admit that we have sometimes learned from our mistakes to perfect the web policies we use today.
It is for this reason that I want to produce several papers on the policies of all types of websites.
On that note, I must admit that this kind of reading always makes me want to snack in front of the screen.
Thank you to all the people responsible for the sources of these articles as well as to all the cybersecurity workers and the protection of the security and privacy of users and web designers.
Looking forward,
Jeff
Sources : https://www.avocat.qc.ca/affaires/iipagewww.htm Les implications légales de son site Web, from Me Saverio Coppola, avocat, Rimôn Québec, Montréal.
https://www.canada.ca/fr/agence-revenu/services/impot/entreprises/sujets/commerce-electronique/commerce-electronique.html e-commerce from the Gouvernement du Canada.
https://www.ccmm.ca/fr/nouvelles/blog_quelques-aspects-legaux-du-commerce-electronique/ Quelques aspects légaux du commerce électronique, by Maude Fréchette for the Chambre de commerce du Montréal métropolitain.
https://www.lawdepot.ca/contracts/conditions-generales-d-un-site-web, LawDepot, General conditions of websites.
Image Cr : W+M Services
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