COMPLIANCE WITH INTERNET LAWS
Compliance With Internet Laws
In today's, digitized world, a business having no website is a big question mark on the legitimacy of the business itself.
An online presence of your business brings authenticity, credibility, and builds relationships and trust leading to loyalty and profitability.
Further, your online visibility helps you build your brand image, brings in more leads and sales, and makes it easy to get connected with your customers. Your website is the number one salesman of your products working 24X7, 365 days.
To ensure that the said advantages do happen to your business, your website need not be perfect in all aspects. However, your website needs to be a fully functional one.
But, do you know that without the required legal pages, your website is not only functionally incomplete but remains an open invitation for litigation?
Yes, though sad, it is the reality and bitter truth.
Having no legal pages on your website amounts to breaking the law and you will be held liable and penalized.
On the other hand, the advantages of having ‘Website Legal Pages’ are:
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You let your visitors know what their rights and obligations are.
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You handle the collection of third-party sensitive information in the right legal way.
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You show your visitors transparency in handling their data as well as in your dealings.
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Your Legal Pages removes the safety and security concerns and instills confidence in your visitors to transact with you, the way you want them to.
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Provides security for your content and safeguards your intellectual properties.
In short, the ‘Legal Pages’ of your website is the easy but efficient and effective route to create trust and credibility.
Having said that, let us look into a few of the must-have ‘Legal Pages’ for your website and why they are important.
1. Terms and Conditions
Your website Terms and Conditions Page is the Contract you and your visitors enter into. It states clearly the expectations both sides shall have and especially how you anticipate your visitors to behave while they are there. Having proper terms and conditions that suit your business objectives limits your liabilities and protects your intellectual properties as well.
2. Privacy Policy
Your Website Privacy Policy Page is the place where you establish the trust quotient with the visitor. Here, you speak about the data being collected, its purpose, how it is used, how long it is kept, etc. This eases the concerns your visitor may have in sharing their personal sensitive information. Thus transparency in your dealings is established and your visitor understands that it is safe and secure to transact with.
3. Returns/Replacement and Refund Policy
Your website shall have a crystal clear refund and return policy so that there exists no ambiguity. Digital commerce is intangible in its very nature and thus your customer at the other end of the internet is much concerned about parting with his hard-earned money. So he wishes to know and understand beforehand what are the terms of returning or replacing the product and getting a refund if he is dissatisfied with the products. This page ensures your customers the process through which they can get back their money or have a replacement of the product as they wish. This is important especially if you are in an e-commerce business or you sell any product or service from your website.
4. Disclaimers
Depending on the actions happening on your website, you have to have appropriate Disclaimers. Your Disclaimer Page is where you speak about your interests as an affiliate while recommending a third-party product, the testimonials your website may have, the earnings/savings potential of your product claims, etc. Having no proper Disclaimers that suit the transactions that may happen on your website will expose you to unwanted legal liabilities. The same is the case if you use third-party content on your website or have external website links.
5. Copyright Notice
You shall have a proper copyright notice to protect your intellectual property. Plagiarism in the online world is rampant. To prevent others from copying your content you have to properly warn them of the legal consequences that may follow for violating your intellectual property rights. It will specify how your content can be used - the dos and dont’s.
6. Comment Policy
This page is inevitable if your website permits third parties /visitors to respond and make their comments and opinions. It is through this Legal Page, you will regulate comments and prevent the chances of disrespecting anti-discrimination laws. It will spell out the types of comments that are allowed and those that will be deleted. You can even add a provision for other users to appeal for deleting certain comments if they have valid reasons to do so. This page helps you to a great extent to shift the responsibility of owning the legal liability of one’s comments to themselves.
7. Cookie Policy
Cookies are small files that get stored on a user’s PC that are being sent by a web browser after the user visits (or lands) on a website that uses cookies. So, if your website employs cookies, you need a Cookie Policy. By placing cookies on your visitors’ devices, you are in control of the data (information) you collect from your visitor. Hence, it becomes even more important to let them know about this and you are legally bound to obtain consent from your visitor.
You have to inform your visitor about the cookies you are using, the information it collects and stores, etc. And your Cookie Policy should also clearly state how the cookies can be deactivated if your visitor does not want the cookie to follow him. This way, you are demonstrating transparency in your dealings, and in return, you build credibility and trust.
8. Complaints and Feedback
You shall have a proper procedure to register complaints (if any) against the products/content or any other important fact of your website or business. Similarly, a Feedback form to gauge visitor experience will be another element adding to the trust quotient. Please note that as per European Union Data Protection rules - which is called GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) a Grievance office should be named along with his contact details.
9. About Us Page
You're ‘About Us’ Page though not a ‘Legal Page’ does have legal importance. Because it is the page where you speak about who you are, the nature of your business entity, its registered office address, the real human beings behind the organization, etc. Therefore, your ‘About Us’ Page needs a legal audit.
Do not be in fool's paradise that the visitors to your website will be surfing your websites flashing their credit cards looking for a chance to swipe and buy your products or are eager to share their personal sensitive information just because you asked for it.
Today’s online savvy community are more vigilant about their rights, safety, and privacy than in the olden days of the internet.
Moreover, now, Nation States are also very keen on data, its protection and use as well as keeping the privacy aspects of the data that you collect, store, share, how it is used and how the data is disposed off. Further to ensure legitimacy of the data you as data custodian of third party sensitive information, disclose facts about who all will have access to the data you had collected and for what purpose etc.
Further internet does not create geographical boundaries, your website is accessible worldwide once it goes online. What does that mean? You need to be extra cautious and ensure that your website legal pages are compliance at least with the major global legal policies and regular updates has to happen to these policies and terms as Nation States keeps on formulating new rules and regulations to cope with the technological advancement.
As the owner of the website, you need to be aware that, before the visitors to your website will pay you, opt into your mailing list, post comments, or take any action you expect them to do while they are on your website, you have to make them at ease and instill in them the feeling that you are genuine, transparent, sincere and law abiding business organisation. This will happen only when you have appropriate legal pages customised and suited to the objectives and purpose of your website and the third party sensitive information you collect. In other words, copying and pasting of somebody else website legal pages will not help you in any way.
Remember, people are concerned about their information and privacy. And because of increasing online fraud and data theft they are all the more vigilant to understand the legal policies of your website.
Safety leads to trust, trust builds relationships, relationships create brand image and loyalty. And it is the trust and loyalty that lead your business to profitability.
If you intend to reap profit and significant growth of your business in the years to come through your online presence as well through digital marketing, you have to have the right ‘Legal Pages’ that are customised based on the objectives and actions happening at your website/blog.
When engaged in Social Media marketing you need to be double cautious. You need to observe not only the general legal rules and polices of internet laws but you also need to comply with the terms and rules of the concerned Social Media platform you engage for digital marketing. Violations on either side, will force you face adverse legal consequences.
Team Biz Legal Guard are experts in drafting the legal policies to comply with the changing internet laws and rules. Whatever be the type of your website, Biz Legal Guard is ready to help you create necessary legal polices and terms. By engaging our services in this area, you are ensuring that your online legal game is played on a legally sound pitch.