What is GDPR?
Wikipedia defines “It also addresses the export of personal data outside the EU and EEA. The GDPR aims primarily to give control to citizens and residents over their personal data and to simplify the regulatory environment for international business by unifying the regulation within the EU”.
It continues “Personal data may not be processed unless it is done under a lawful basis specified by the regulation, or the data controller or processor has received explicit, opt-in consent from the data’s owner—which may be withdrawn at any time”.
“A processor of personal data must disclose what data is being collected and how, why it is being processed, how long it is being retained, and if it is being shared with any other parties. Users have the right to request a portable copy of the data collected by a processor in a common format, and the right to have their data erased under certain circumstances”.
It’s about how companies handle personal data, why they collect it, and how long they retain it, and on what ground they process it. It’s about companies providing visitors with mechanisms to delete personal data from within their platforms or to have their date sent to their inbox.
And although the GDPR regulation is about EU citizens, it’s a regulation that the majority of websites will apply for all their visitors. I agree that adopting these regulations for the entirety of our websites is the most efficient approach.
More information on the GDPR law can be found here.
Web Market Support | GDPR Compliance and Updates
It means a lot, and during the last weeks, I was mostly working in this direction. At WebMarketSupport, we believe in putting the customer experience above all else and we are committed to maintaining the trust and confidence of all visitors to our website.
With that in mind, we’ve made recently some updates to our Privacy Policy to make it easier for you to understand what information we collect, why we collect it, and how we use it.
- We’ve updated the Privacy Policy to comply with the new requirements under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into effect on May 25, 2018.
- We’ve updated the Cookie Policy to make it easier to review alongside our use of cookies and other technologies.
- We’ve improved the way we describe our practices and explain how you can make choices about your information and the measures we’ve put in place to keep your information secure.
And here are the related updates:
A Brand New Privacy Policy
- What personal information we collect from the people visiting our website, blog, or apps
- When we collect information
- How we use this information
- What data we collect about you, for what purpose, and on what ground we process it.
- How we protect your information
- The use of cookies
- Third parties (3rd party disclosure, 3rd party links, embedded content from other websites)
- Website comments
- Google (Google Analytics, Google AdSense, Google display network, DoubleClick)
- California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA)
- Do Not Track Signals
- Third-party behavioral tracking
- Children Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
- Fair information practices
- CAN-SPAM Act
- Mailing lists (mailing providers)
- Contact forms
- How long we retain your data
- Access to your personal information
- Your Consent
A New Cookie Policy
As is common practice with almost all professional websites this site uses cookies, which are tiny files that are downloaded to your computer, to improve your experience. The ‘Cookie Policy’ page describes what information they gather, how we use it and why we sometimes need to store these cookies. We also share how you can prevent these cookies from being stored however this may downgrade or ‘break’ certain elements of the site’s functionality.
Here’s a summary of what’s included:
- What are cookies
- How we use cookies
- Disabling cookies
- The cookies we set (account related, login related, email newsletters, order processing, surveys related, forms related, site preference)
- Third-party cookies (Google Analytics, new features, products, advertising networks, affiliate tracking, social media buttons)
Terms & Conditions
- Cookies
- License
- User comments
- Hyperlinking to our content
- Iframes
- Reservation of Rights
- Removal of links from our website
- Content Liability
- Disclaimer
There is still work to be done!
Disclaimer
- Affiliate disclosure
- Affiliate links
- Referral programs
- Sponsored content
- Reviews
- Lists/guides
- Advertising
- Final Notice
As long as I continue working online I will be updating all the legal pages as required to reflect any changes.
Other Updates
Contact Forms
It’s entitled WMS Agreement, and it requires that you read and accept the privacy policy and the terms of use before you submit your information. The checkbox area links to these pages and by default the boxes are unchecked.
Although I think it was unnecessary to apply these changes in the official contact page, I’ve updated this page as well. Here’s a screenshot:
Email Optin Forms
Along with the registration instructions, I inform all visitors that by becoming a Free WMS member:
- You get access to the DBR Training and exclusive access to all future digital downloads/educational material
- You signup for the WMS email newsletter and updates
- You can optionally participate in contests, quizzes, polls, mini-surveys, and similar website activities to help improve the training area and your experience
At the bottom of the page, I placed the WMS Agreement checkboxes as I did with the contact forms.
That means, anyone that wants to get access to the training, knows about the WMS Agreement and consents to proceed.
For that reason, I will keep all the contact forms inside the DBR training area untouched. I won’t add the WMS Agreement checkboxes to the questionnaires, quizzes, polls, and contact forms in the members’ area. Because before you get access to the members’ area you’ve already given your consent to the use of your personal information.
Mailing Lists
I will continue on testing the new feature during the next days.
WordPress Plugins
GDPR Cookie Consent: I added another button to the cookie plugin, it’s the Reject button. Now anyone that visits WMS has 3 options: to accept the cookies, can opt-out of the cookies and read more information. Additionally, I linked the Privacy Policy page to the ‘Read More’ button. This step makes the WMS website even more transparent.
It adds a checkbox to all the website comments and to a few supported contact forms (like Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, WooCommerce). Now, you have to give your consent before you submit your comment. This is the message that is displayed:
“By using this form you agree with the storage and handling of your data by this website”.
This plugin is under development and new features will be added in the near future. I will update this page with new information as required.
WordPress Updates
Export Personal Data: a user/visitor may contact us via the contact page to have their data sent to their email address.
Erase Personal Data: a user/visitor may contact us via the contact page to have their data erased from our database.
They also published a guide to help WordPress users create their own Privacy Policy pages.
Elegant Themes
Final Words
Still, there is work to be done in order to fully comply with the GDPR law, but I believe, this is
I will be working on the Live Chat settings, the mailing lists, and I will add WMS Agreement checkboxes on the contact forms. I will be updating the Terms & Conditions page with new information and I will be updating this page as well.
Refer to this page as the WebMarketSupport GDPR Guide.
I am welcoming your comments and thoughts, your suggestions and opinion as always. My priority is always you, the visitors. I wanna thank you for your trust. Till next time…
Tasos Perte Tzortzis
Business Organisation & Administration, Marketing Consultant, Creator of the "7 Ideals" Methodology
Although doing traditional business offline since 1992, I fell in love with online marketing in late 2014 and have helped hundreds of brands sell more of their products and services. Founder of WebMarketSupport, Muvimag, Summer Dream.
Reading, arts, science, chess, coffee, tea, swimming, Audi, and family comes first.
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