As a website owner, new laws are soon taking affect that will mean YOU are responsible for any information you store or collect from any individual. In the age of cyber-attacks being an actual thing, the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) will soon be enforcing new laws detailing the collection and use of customer information through the internet.
This week on ABC’s QandA they addressed the topic of cyber security and the short comings of privacy protection in Australia. One member of the public hit the nail on the head with their comment via twitter: “People forget that the stuff they put on the internet is almost as long lasting as tattoos” [BartholomewD]
We are constantly connected to our electronic and mobile devices, which is providing greater opportunity for cyber criminals to access our personal information. Companies and organisations who rely on technology and the internet to deliver our vital, utility services are most at risk.
Scary isn’t it.
The reason that we are telling you this is, as website developers and marketers we are conscious of the fact that our clients collect their customer’s information for many reasons and use that information to better create engaging content.
Now you must inform anyone you track – which really is the ethical thing to do, but is now mandatory in the EU. If your site is on the World Wide Web, the changes will affect you no matter the location. Facebook has taken the lead, stating that anyone using their pixels service in order to create re-targeting ad campaigns must update their own privacy policy to include details about the third-party use of data.
You might be receiving all sorts of updated privacy policies from eBay, PayPal, Mail Chimp, Facebook and other social platforms, through to your accounting programs – they are all affected, and so are you and your website.
At a minimum, all businesses are now required to have third part cyber insurance to protect their customer’s information against any cyber-attacks or data loss. In 2014, cybercrime cost the Australian Economy $1 Billion and many insurance lenders now offer businesses the opportunity to protect themselves against cyber criminals.
If you track your site’s visitor activity or record their information in any way, such as collect information via a contact form, pop-up, mailing list form, or if you use Facebook pixels, Google tracking pixels or have cookies (not the yummy snack variety but rather the internet tracking type), you must now publicly disclose how you store and use that information. It is good practice to also include how they can opt-out from having their information used for re-targeting purposes. This information should be visible through a link on every page of your site.
Make sure you do the right thing and avoid any issues by updating your site. If you need help, Evolution are here to give you a hand so, please give us a call or send us an email.
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Information Sources: https://www.allianz.com.au/media/news/2014/allianz-launches-cyber-risk-insurance-product | https://www.eugdpr.org/ | https://www.facebook.com/pg/abcqanda/posts/
*While we are pretty talented individuals, and qualified in many things, we are in no way qualified to provide insurance, financial or legal advice and we recommend you seek this information from professionals. The intention for this post is to educate and inform you of upcoming changes that may affect you, your website and the way you store and use others personal information.
