Selling with Trust: Privacy Policy Requirements for Course Creators -
Prepare yourself. It is about time to find out about the reasons why websites that are based on courses may require Privacy Policies.
Alright, so maybe not the most exciting subject, but it's still one that is vital.
Privacy is now a larger and greater issue. The public is demanding webmasters to protect their privacy, and non-compliance costs can be very costly simply for failing to disclose your own privacy practices.
If your course website has been collecting data under regulation You are required to provide specific details so users know what you're doing with their information.
This post (and the webinar) is intended to provide creators of courses with the basic information on what website policies are and when they're required on certain websites for course creators, and what you can do to get proper policies put in place (and ensure they are updated in the future).
Before proceeding further, it's important for us to keep in mind that this post and webinar does not constitute legal advice and is for solely informational use. You should speak to an attorney who is in your local area to assist you with legal compliance requirements.
What are the data that is subject to regulation?
Names, emails addresses, IP addresses, and names are governed by numerous privacy laws throughout the world. If you collect this regulated data, you may need to establish a Privacy Policy, regardless of where you're located.
The big lesson: governments that make privacy laws don't care about the location of your company. They are concerned about safeguarding the privacy of their citizens. If you're collecting information from multiple sources You may have to comply with different privacy laws and to make the disclosures required under each one (yes each privacy law is different).
Are the data you collect regulated harmful?
Not at all! It's just a matter of making an announcement about the matter.
Collecting data like names, email addresses and IP addresses helps your customers have a great experience while using your website. This also allows you to create improvements to your website in the future.
The only thing that has really changed is the fact that you must be conscious of your privacy practices and ensure you have the respective policies on your website with the correct information you are specifically obliged to provide according to the law(s) that apply to your site.
Does your website course collect regulated data?
Virtually all modern websites collect regulated information. It's darn near a requirement to ensure spammers aren't trying to take advantage of your contact forms and it would be impossible to process payments in any other way. So collecting data is normal on websites and is likely to be much more frequent than you imagine.
Common characteristics for course platforms that collect the following data that is regulated:
- Course and membership registrations
- Accepting and processing payments
- Embedded 3rd party videos
- Engagement initiates
- Rewarding your Learners
- Email drips
- Discussion forums
- Integrity
- Quizzes
Common integrations in which course creators are sharing data with third parties:
- Embedding 3rd party videos for lessons (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.)
- Integrations of payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal, etc.)
- Automatic renewal reminders (Mailgun, ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp for example.)
- Email newsletter subscription forms (Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Constant Contact, etc.)
- Data transfer providers (Zapier, etc.)
What should I do?
Simply put, you should implement policies on your website to help you make more sales and avoid non-compliance of fines or legal action. By using website policies it builds trust and help comply to the laws.
Privacy isn't going anywhere (if anything it's becoming more important) and the inability to offer an adequate and compliant Privacy Policy is what gets the owners of websites into trouble when it comes to privacy law (where fines start at $2,500 for each visitor to a website who's rights have been violated by you).
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 ensure they are up-to-date as time passes!