From The Legal Beagle Team 21/11/2017

Privacy is something which business owners and customers need to take seriously. So when someone visits your website, they will want to know that any personal information you collect about them is being kept secure. By having a Privacy Policy on your website, you are letting your website visitors know upfront about the types of information you are getting from them and what you are going to do with it. This in turn creates trust between you and your customers. 

 Why Do You Need A Privacy Policy?

Plenty of people have experienced what happens when their information is not kept private and have faced the consequences such as spam, identity theft and/or illegal bank or credit card transactions.

Names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses are all types of personal information which are collected by businesses through their websites every day. In order for people to want to do business with you, they will want to know that all of the personal information that they give you is safe.

New Zealand law (Principle 3 of the Privacy Act) says that if you collect personal information about somebody, you must let them know you are doing so. A Privacy Policy on your website is the best place to have this information.

What Information Is Included In a Privacy Policy?

Your Privacy Policy needs to have the following information:

1. An explanation that you are collecting information about your customers and website visitors and what that information is
2. Details about why you are collecting their information
3. Details about what you are going to use their information for
4. Details of who you are going to give their information with, or a statement saying that you are not sharing it
5. Details about how they can see the information you have about them and how they can fix it if it is wrong

It may also be appropriate to give an explanation about:

• Whether or not they have to give you that information and what happens if they don’t want to give it to you
• How you are keeping their information secure and how long you are going to keep it for

You really only should keep their data for the period of time that you actually have a use for it. If the information you have gets hacked or you lose personal details, you should have a plan ready about how you are going to fix the problem and how you are going to tell people what has happened to their information.

As you can see, while there are important legal reasons for having a Privacy Policy, it makes good business sense to have one too as it creates trust between you and your customers. You can create a Privacy Policy online using our online tool.

Disclaimer: The information on this page is general information only and must not be relied on as legal advice. Legal Beagle is not a law firm or a substitute for a law firm. We are unable to provide any kind of advice, explanation, opinion, or recommendation about possible legal rights, remedies, defences, options, selection of legal documents or strategies.