Are you a business owner with a website for your business? Have you wondered whether the terms of use or the privacy policy on your website are sufficient? If so, you're not alone. I'm going to give you a few tips so you can figure out whether your terms of use and privacy policy are sufficient, or whether you might need some further assistance.

If your website is basically an “electronic brochure” for your company, then you might be fine using the terms of use and privacy policies that most sites use, which you can grab from various online sources. But if you conduct e-commerce, meaning that you conduct transactions through your website, or if you have people sign agreements through your site, or if you collect data beyond just an email address, you need to pay additional attention to your terms of use and privacy policy. Additionally, if your site reaches people in the European Union, whether intentionally or unintentionally, you may need to comply with the European Union rules of data privacy.

There's a lot to consider out there. I want you to think of your terms of use and privacy policy as a contract between your company and the people who use your website. If you feel like it's not quite where you need it to be, then you really should have somebody review your terms of use and privacy policy to make sure that they adequately and properly reflect the rights and obligations between the parties.

KATHERINE L. TAYLOR, ATTORNEY AND CPA

5850 Waterloo Rd

Suite 140

Columbia, MD

21045 443-420-4075

443-420-4075 (fax)