For detailed show notes visit https://www.skyrocketradio.com/podcast/why-all-radio-stations-need-a-privacy-policy-page.

Do you take online contest information or regular contact form entries on your station or company website? The information you accept is likely protected under certain digital privacy laws.

Website privacy rights protect the personal information you collect from visitors when they visit your website. This can include names, email addresses, and location data. A typical intake form might be the information you collect from listeners when they sign up for contests. Sometimes you may ask about things other than their name and e-mail address, like their date of birth and address. The data they are giving you should be considered protected information.

Sharing someone’s information without their knowledge could be a privacy rights nightmare. Privacy laws can impose very high penalties for violations as penalties are calculated per violation (meaning per website visitor whose privacy rights were infringed upon). That means sharing 300 names and e-mail addresses with your contest sponsor could be 300 violations.

Know Your Privacy Laws

The United States and Europe have the most comprehensive data security and privacy laws; the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect in 2018, while the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) took effect in 2020.  At the time of writing, no federal laws require a business to have a Privacy Policy. But there are several laws, including federal and state laws, that have provisions on data privacy. Some are new this year, and you can expect more states to have new laws as well.

Have a Website Privacy Policy

You’ll likely have general contest rules and even rules per contest. It’s also good to include privacy disclosures and have an overall privacy policy for your site that covers other form submissions.

There are three main reasons why you need a Privacy Policy page:

1. Privacy Policy agreements are required by law worldwide if you're collecting data that can be used to identify an individual.

2. Many third-party services designed to enhance your website or app, such as Google Analytics, actively require you to have a Privacy Policy that contains certain information about your use of their services.

3. Show you care. People care a lot about their privacy, especially when using their private information, such as their home address. Your Privacy Policy is a great way to show them that you can be trusted to care for that information.

It is important to note that your Privacy Policy will depend on the privacy laws that apply to you, so you must first determine those. With increasing online activity, website privacy rights have become more important than ever. It's important for radio stations to be aware of these rights and to take steps to protect their listener’s personal information online.

A Privacy Policy is one of the most important legal agreements for your radio station website, regardless of where you operate. Today’s post provides a good starting point for compliance with the new and coming privacy laws. However, do not take it as a substitute for the advice of your station attorney. Many other ancillary requirements need to be considered, like having an appeals system and other required duties that may be required. These are much deeper than we can speak to.

We can help you with your radio station website though. Reach out to us at https://www.skyrocketradio.com,