Does my website really need a Privacy Policy?

Yes. Since you are collecting personal information (e.g. name and email on your contact form), you are required to have a Privacy Policy. Currently, the following laws require Privacy Policies for most websites:

There are also about a dozen other states that are proposing their own privacy laws that would require most businesses to have a Privacy Policy and would affect how that Privacy Policy is written, requiring you to make changes on a pretty regular basis.

Can I write these policies myself?

While technically you could write these policies yourself, we do not recommend that you do so. There are a lot of laws, cases and legal opinions on how to write these policies correctly. If you have not spent years studying law and cases, it is very likely that the policy you write would be incomplete, incorrect and non-compliant. Also, there are currently a lot of new privacy laws that are being proposed and passed, meaning that you’d have to constantly stay up to date with these laws and amend your Privacy Policy yourself every time. This would take a lot of time and effort on your part and would take you away from your actual business.

Can I ask my attorney to write these policies for me?

If you have a data privacy attorney on staff, you should definitely ask him or her to write this up for you. Just as a heads up, if you want to ask your outside attorney to draft these for you, that’s a great idea but it may be a bit pricey. Also, lawyers that do not work in the privacy field often use Termageddon solutions for their Privacy Policies so that’s something to think about as well.

Is my business too small for anyone to care about this?

Some of the laws that are being proposed or passed do not limit enforcement and liability to large companies only so your small business could be liable as well. Also, consumers do not distinguish between small and large businesses when it comes to protecting their privacy, and are less likely to buy from companies that do not respect their privacy.

Why is the Termageddon service a recurring fee?

Termageddon charges a yearly fee for this service because it automatically updates your policies whenever the law changes. Over the last year, two new privacy laws went into effect in the US - California and Nevada and we have seen some changes in the United Kingdom as well. Also, there are about a dozen other states that are proposing new privacy laws as well. Termageddon charges a yearly fee because that’s a lot of research, studying and changes to your Privacy Policy that they undertake for you.

Can I just copy and paste someone else’s Privacy Policy?

You could try and copy and paste someone else’s Privacy Policy, rewrite it to fit your website and then paste it onto your website. However, by doing so, you’d be committing copyright infringement, which could get you sued. Also, you don’t know whether that policy is compliant with the current laws and it won’t auto-update for you, meaning that you’ll have to keep track of the changes to the law which are increasing. A Privacy Policy generated through Termageddon is much easier, safer, and less time-consuming.