Ask The Expert

Q: I need to write a privacy statement for my website. What are the main points it should cover? How much is it going to cost me?

A: Every business website should have a privacy statement and cost is no longer an excuse - because there are free sites that help you generate a privacy policy in less than 2 minutes. You can even create them in multiple languages.

For the minimum requirements any privacy policy should have, I recommend using the California Online Privacy Protection Act (2004) as a guide. It lists 4 basic points:

1. Identify. The policy should identify the type of personal data collected by your business and website. It should also identify any third parties (such as carriers) with whom the business shares that data.

2. Revising data. The policy should indicate how consumers can review and make changes to their personal information - if the business allows those types of changes.

3. Updates. The policy should indicate how consumers can find out about any future changes to the website's or business' privacy policy.

4. Effective date. It must indicate the effective date for the policy.

These are the minimum requirements. Again, however, creating a privacy policy is easy if you use one of the free privacy policy generators now available online. I recommend these 2 popular sites:

• The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) Privacy Policy Generator (http://www.the-dma.org/privacy/creating.shtml) is the simplest to use and apply.

• Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Privacy Policy Generator (http://www.oecd.org/document/39/0,2340,en_2649
  _34255_28863271_1_1_1_1,00.html) lets you create your policy in English, French and Spanish.

Finally, before you upload your company's privacy policy, make sure ALL YOUR EMPLOYEES know and understand it. Make sure it's part of your orientation and training.

Failure to follow your privacy policy won't just hurt your reputation or image. It can hurt your bottom line as well.