Selling With Trust: Privacy Policy Requirements for Course Creators -
Get ready. You are about to learn about the reason why courses-based websites could require Privacy Policies.
Ok, it's not the most interesting topic, but it's important.
Privacy is becoming a bigger and bigger deal. The public is demanding website owners to respect their privacy. If they don't, costs can be very costly by not disclosing your privacy policies.
If your course website collects data that is regulated You are required to provide specific details so users know the purpose of your data.
This post (and the webinar) will give instructors with the fundamentals on the policies for websites that are mandatory to be used on specific websites of course creators and the best way to get proper policies put in place (and ensure they are current in the future).
Before we move any further, it's important for us to keep in mind that this post and webinar is not legal advice and is for solely informational use. You should speak to an attorney in your area to help you meet your legal compliance requirements.
What are the data that is subject to regulation?
Items like names, email addresses and IP addresses are governed by a multitude of privacy laws across the globe. If you're collecting these controlled data, you could be required to have privacy Policy, regardless of where your located.
It's already a major takeaway: governments that create privacy laws don't care about which part of the country your company is. They care about protecting the privacy of their citizens. If you're collecting data from multiple areas You may have to adhere to various privacy laws, and provide the required disclosures under each of them (yes, each privacy law is different).
Do you think that collecting data that is regulated is bad?
Not at all! You just have to make some disclosures about the matter.
Gathering information such as names, emails, and IP addresses can help your customers have a great experience while using your website. This also allows you to create improvements to your website as time passes.
The only thing that's actually changed is that you need to be aware of your privacy practices and make sure you've got the respective policies on your website which contain the appropriate information you are specifically legally required to disclose under the law(s) which apply to you.
Does your website course collect regulated data?
Virtually all modern websites collect regulated data. It's darn near a requirement for security purposes to prevent spammers from trying to take advantage of your contact forms and it would be impossible to process payments in any other way. Thus, the collection of data is typical on websites and could be more frequent than you imagine.
Common features of courses that gather the following data that is regulated:
- Membership and course registrations
- Accepting payments
- Embedded 3rd party videos
- Engage initiates
- Rewarding your Learners
- Email drips
- Discussion forums
- Integrity
- Quizzes
Common integrations when course creators can share their information with third party:
- embedding 3rd party video clips into courses (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.)
- Integrations with payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal, etc.)
- Automated renewal notification (Mailgun, ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp, etc.)
- Email newsletter subscription forms (Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Constant Contact, etc.)
- Data transfer providers (Zapier, etc.)
Why should I be concerned?
In simple terms, it is important to implement policies on your website to help you make greater sales as well as avoid penalties or lawsuits. Also, by having policies on your website it builds trust with customers and assist in complying with laws.
Privacy will not go away (if ever it's getting more crucial) and the failure to have the right Privacy Policy is what gets website owners into problems when it comes to privacy legislation (where fines begin at $2,500 for each visitor to a website that you've violated their rights).
It is worth considering joining the webinar, where we'll show you the fundamentals of web policies, how to obtain appropriate ones and how to easily keep them up to date as time passes!