Happy holidays! With the new year beginning, it’s important to be aware of new privacy laws going into effect in 2023 that could impact your business. Legislatures have been busy this year, and there are 6 laws that could require you to make changes to your privacy policies and website terms in the new year. In an increasingly digital age, data privacy is becoming more important than ever, and legal action has placed the onus on business owners to be aware of and proactive about the website data they collect and handle. Below, we provide brief details about each of these laws and whether you need to take action.
What Do These Privacy Law Changes Mean for Your Business?
Depending on the reach and customer base of your website, these new privacy laws may or may not apply to you this year. 5 of the 6 newly enacted laws were passed by state legislatures – however, your business need not be located in one of these states for the statutes to apply to you. Instead, they apply to anyone who controls, collects, or processes large amounts of data related to the residents of the relevant states.
Regardless, with privacy laws relating to websites, it is always best to stay up to date and comply with all policies that are or could become relevant to your site. Visitors and traffic are always changing, and you don’t want to be caught unprepared.
What Do the New Privacy Laws Entail?
The newly enacted laws that will affect privacy policy needs on websites are the California Privacy Rights Act, Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act, Colorado Privacy Act, Utah Consumer Privacy Act, Connecticut SB6, and Quebec Bill 64. All of these pieces of legislation have one or more conditions for the privacy policy requirements to kick in, primarily revolving around the amount of consumer data from the relevant area you handle, whether you sell or share that data, and how high your annual business revenue is. For example, Connecticut SB6 applies to businesses that, during the previous year, processed or controlled the data of 100,000 or more Connecticut residents and/or controlled or processed the personal data of more than 25,000 residents and derived more than 25% of their revenue from personal data sales. The other statutes have similar constraints but different thresholds and sometimes different criteria.
If you exceed the minimum threshold for one of these laws, they each require different privacy policy disclosures. Essentially, this means that you may need to include more detail or additional information than your existing privacy policy if one of these laws applies to your business.
What Actions Do You Need to Take?
If you already partner with Termageddon through WebArc, the process of complying with these new laws will be virtually painless. All you need to do is answer the questionnaire Termageddon will be distributing in the coming weeks, and your privacy policies will be automatically updated to stay compliant with all 6 new laws.
How Can You Comply with New Privacy Laws if You Don’t Have Termageddon?
If you don’t have an existing Termageddon license, there’s no better time to purchase a license. Every year, privacy policy requirements become more complex. Let someone else worry about all that headache moving forward. Regardless of how big or small your website is, various statutes about consumer privacy likely already apply to you, and you could face legal or financial penalties if you do not abide by them. Sign up for Termageddon here, and don’t hesitate to contact us if you have questions.
As always, WebArc is your partner in digital success, and we are happy to answer your questions and provide a helping hand through the process. Please reach out through our support portal if you have any questions or requests.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this email does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available on this site are for general informational purposes only. As your website developer and/or maintenance staff, WebArc is not responsible for your website policies.
