By: Seomul Evans
Submitted: 2011-09-19 20:48:19 | Word Count: 720
You are still reminiscing about the amazing New Year's party at your friends and the amount of fun that you had; so as the year slowly get underway, its time to go through a quick legal checkup for your site. There was a time when you could do just about anything with an online business but today the cyber world is highly regulated and there can b a substantial amount of liability if you don't play your pawns right. Besides, there is simply too much competition in the market today and add o this the fact that customers are getting more net savvy by the day and its not hard to understand why it would be impossible for a website tat is not legally complaint to stay alive. So let's discuss a legal checklist that will help you ensure that your website is clean:
Adding Content through a blog: If you have recently added or intend to add a blog or any such service that lets your visitors express their views on your site and read those of others; you will need to include a DMCA notice in the Terms of Use, you will also need to file for a DMCA registration which can be done at the US copyright office. This will safeguard your business from any liabilities resulting from copyright infringement when infringing material is posted by a visitor.
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Go through your Copyright Notice: It is also essential to take a close look at the copyright notice of your site; it should include the words "copyright" or the symbol, the year of publication of the content, the name of copyright owner. You should also add the term "All Right reserved worldwide" If you update your site frequently, ensure that the date reflects that fact that the site is updated every year.
Check your data security measures: It is imperative to check your data security measures frequently, if your website requires visitors to supply personal information, you will need to ensure that you incorporate appropriate security measures; however, there are new innovations in computer security every day which means that what was deemed appropriate a few years ago may be totally unacceptable today. So if you have not updated the security procedures of your site in a while; this is wonderful time to do so.
Personal information Usage: You will also need to let your visitors know how the personal information that they offer is used. So review your Privacy Policy and ensure that you mention the way in which you intend to share their personal information. If you have made amends or revised the Privacy Policy, ensure that the website has the up to date version of the policy.
Talk about your future plans: Have you considered what you intend to do when your business is a big hit, for instance, you may want to sell a website and cash in on the profit once its very popular; what happens to the personal data that you have collected in such a case? Your clients have the right to know how you intend to use their personal information, so include a clause in your Privacy Policy that stats that the data will be shared with a company that acquires the website in future. If you have not done this already, you will not be able to hare or transfer the information that you have already collected with the new owners of the website. The Federal Trade Commission ( FTC) has stipulated in the matter expressly stating that any information acquired before such a notice is posted in the privacy Polices cannot by shared by the old owner of a business with the new owner in the vent of sale. This personal information includes your customer list and opt-in list.
Mention if a service provider will have access to personal information: the FTC has also ruled in several settlements that the website owner will be liable from the misuse of personal information that was passed on to the service providers in the normal course of business; this means that if you use a web hosting provider, SEO services, site maintenance services etc and if these establishments have access to the personal information furnished by your clients and if they happen to misuse this in any way, you will be held liable.
