Navigating User Privacy Processes on Your Site

Written by 5ivecanons Staff

It’s time to get compliant or pay hefty fines, plus legal fees. Back in May of 2018, we wrote about GDPR and laws changing in Europe. In 2020, California adopted similar laws. And this month, more states have passed laws to protect the privacy of users online. Let’s dive in:

What the hell is cookie consent?

Simply put, it’s the process of a user providing “explicit” consent to track their data.

The more complex answer is it’s the management of all user data, in a form / fashion that allows users to consent or deny a website from tracking, storing, sharing, or managing any data related to that user. And furthermore, users need to have the ability to change their minds – potentially forcing brands to delete any and all data related to that particular user, even after they’ve already consented to tracking and storage.

What do you mean? I see the words in sentence form, but I don’t get it.

Example: You visit 5ivecanons.com, you’re given the option to accept or deny cookies. You accept. You’ve explicitly accepted. We’re now tracking you. And here are all the cookies we’ve dropped on your computer, and all the info we’re gathering can be found here.

Second example: You visit 5ivecanons.com, you’re given the option to accept or deny cookies. You deny. We track nothing. Not one cookie is dropped. We don’t know you.

And final example: You accepted first go around, but now you’re paranoid that we’ve got all your info and want us to delete it. Just fill out this form, we’ll trigger our internal processes to delete, and you’re swazye (I’m talking ghost you boomer).

How serious is this? I’ve got other shit I need to do.

Really serious. Some of the fines start at $7500 when there is an intentional occurrence, and that doesn’t include legal fees. Other fines can be 2% of your companies revenue. And of course, there is also the PR fallout of brands not protecting their customers.

What can you do?

Talk to your legal counsel. Get them to review your terms, conditions, and processes. Ultimately, they’re the ones defending you in court or communicating to the AG if you’re fined. Next, find a solid compliance tool. We’ve got a few that we recommend that range from just the bare minimum to the most robust consent policy management you can get. You choose.

Then, let’s get to work and protect you. Just let us know when you’re ready.