my sister is about to have a baby and my brother showed up to the hospital in a suit because “first impressions matter” pic.twitter.com/KtNV4mvnDU
— iris kessler (@Iris_Elisabeth_) January 3, 2017
This guy knows how to make a good impression. In fact, we think that making a good impression at a birth should be the law. Alas, it is not. However, there is law on making a good first impression with your Privacy Policy (i.e. displaying it properly). The proper display of Privacy Policy is so important that, if you do “wear sweatpants”, your Privacy Policy could be struck down by courts and rendered null and void due to improper placement. This could open your website to fines and lawsuits.
And it’s not just us that think that proper display is important, courts have decided on this issue many times. So once you have generated the Privacy Policy itself, here are some guidelines for displaying it:
- Decide on whether you’re the clickwrap or browsewrap type of company. Clickwrap agreements are the ones that you have to click to agree to. Browsewrap agreements are usually displayed on the bottom footer of the website and do not require active agreement. You can learn more about this here.
- If you have decided on browsewrap, then you should make sure that the Privacy Policy link stands out from the surrounding text and is easily visible to all users. Some ideas that you may want to consider for the link are:
- Different color from the surrounding text;
- Different font from the surrounding text; and
- Larger type size from the surrounding text.
It’s also important to note that certain privacy laws (GDPR, UK DPA, and PIPEDA) may require clickwrap on forms to demonstrate proper consent.
Remember that having a great Privacy Policy is very important. However, if no one can find it, then courts may just agree with the complainant that you did not provide adequate notice of your privacy procedures. So make sure that your Mona Lisa is easily seen by all. Kind of like this one (spoiler, it’s our footer):
