If you ask any commercial lawyer what one of the biggest oversights business owners make is, they will tell you that they fail to ensure their online presence is legally compliant.

By online presence, we are primarily talking about the business’s website in whatever form it may take. A business could have a corporate website, a separate blog, or an online e-commerce site. Whatever type of online property they use, they must realise and appreciate that everything needs to be legally protected.

When we say protected, we do not mean they need to take out any kind of insurance, but instead that they have elements within their websites that cover them against litigation or falling foul of the law as it relates to operating online.

As any commercial lawyer will attest, the frustrating aspect of this is that it is not especially difficult to ensure that you have all the bases covered when it comes to being compliant and meeting your legal obligations online. The addition of a number of pages with specific text can often be all that is needed to be compliant.

You will undoubtedly be aware of the significant increase in publicity about online privacy and data protection. If you operate any website, especially a commercial one, you need to consider privacy laws.

(more…)