WHAT ARE ONLINE POLICIES?

Internet is a platform which is as broad and as limitless as it could be which is beyond a person’s imagination. It requires different effectively executed ways for regulating and overseeing all the information and data which is being provided, received, shared, downloaded, uploaded at any given time in any part of the world. Like a human being in their complete senses will not provide his/ her private information and properties or any other personal details to any random person they meet or see on the street. Similarly, we have to be careful and take proper precautionary measures about the websites we use and trust with our information.

Business Jan 26, 2021 0 Add to Reading List

INTRODUCTION:

Internet is a platform which is as broad and as limitless as it could be which is beyond a person’s imagination. It requires different effectively executed ways for regulating and overseeing all the information and data which is being provided, received, shared, downloaded, uploaded at any given time in any part of the world. Like a human being in their complete senses will not provide his/ her private information and properties or any other personal details to any random person they meet or see on the street. Similarly, we have to be careful and take proper precautionary measures about the websites we use and trust with our information. That is the reason why legal online policies exist. These policies serve as a word of trust between the website creator, its operator and its visitor. From the point of view of the website operator, these legal policies can help them by protecting their customers from any kind of breach of information by any intruder or their party creating problems for both the operator and the visitor of the website. Online Legal policies shield and protect both the site owner and site visitor from the dangerous parts of the internet such as information breacher, identity thief, copyright infringement issues, etc.

ONLINE POLICIES

There are various types of legal policies and terms and conditions that are found online, with some major elements which are so necessary that they need to be included in all types of websites. Some of the most common and important online legal policies that one should consider if they want to have a safe and legal website are:

Privacy policy

This legal policy gives the web site visitors an idea of what the website is going to do with their personal information and what type of digital footprints the website will be getting from its users. It works as a statement or a legal document which presents some or all of the rules and regulations and various ways a website uses, discloses, and manages a customer or client's data. Personal information can be considered as anything that can be used to identify an individual, is not just limited to a person's name, address, date of birth, phone number, e-mail address, marital status, other contact information, ID issue, any expiry date of a debit card, financial records, credit information, medical history etc. In the case of a business, personal information is often considered to be a statement that shows a business’s policy on how it collects, stores all the information they gather or acquire through various sources. Privacy policies generally represent a broader, and a more generalized treatment, which is opposed to data use statements, which intend to work by being more detailed and specific.

Privacy policies contain the following:

Information about how people can change, input and access information on the online system presented inform of the website;
How the users can opt-out of mailing lists;
Information about the detailed explanation of the type of digital information the website collected and where the said collected information is going to be used;
Age restrictions of the appropriate users;
Structure of the Process of the information dissemination during privacy policy changes if any.

Terms and conditions

Terms and conditions specify the way by which the website conduct its business in its day-to-day activities in detail. This is the policy that provides potential customers with an idea and brief information of how the business of the website is running and how the website deals with customer issues, purchases, all other sensitive information and intellectual property of the website and its potential customer. It is very important to have well-drafted terms and conditions after considering all the possible legal requirements of the business to protect the service provider or the website owner from any legal liability which may arise due to any loophole or misconduct by the business owner or any procedure infringing party. Some common inclusions that the service provider or the website owner or developer should take into consideration for identifying any future legal need and help in drafting well-protected and effective terms and conditions of the business are:

Accuracy of information used on the website;
Payment processing used for any payments on the website;
Intellectual property rights of the owner of the website and its clients for better protection;
Details about How and where disputes will be handled if arising in case of any infringement;
Warranty limitations of the website and its customers in their own ways.

Refund policy

A Return or a refund policy is necessary assuming that the business runs based on a website participating in digital commerce. It is necessary to discuss in detail with the customers of the website so as to have a good picture so as to create clearance in minds of both the parties to the contract of what is to be done in the case, they want to get a refund from the service provider. But in various cases if it’s required or not, any online service should have a clear refund policy to protect the owner and the management of the business so as to protect their business from potential legal issues. Listed below are some of the most basic information we will find in the refund and replacement policies of various online service providers:

Time limitations on any kind of returns and replacements
Who is liable to pay for the shipping fee of the return or replacement item?
In what condition should the product be in for any replacement or refund request consideration and completion?
What will happen when the items arrived are damaged?
What will happen when items arrive late?
How long should the customers wait before they receive their money back from any refunds?
How long will the return process usually take to happen and be completed?

Notice of copyright

This is one of the most used, important and easiest policies used to write a notice indicating that one should be clear about online services. The website owner must ensure that it states what content on their website is considered “theirs’s” and what people are allowed or can and cannot use without prior consent and permission from the website owner or any authorised associate to grant such permission.

It should also be noted that while the website owner or the website developer may allow different people or their customers or potential customers to use certain materials from their website, but they still hold ownership over it despite allowing it to use, they still are the rightful owner of that information or feature or property. Websites often include the following details in their copyright notices: