Legal Affairs
An ounce of prevention
How to protect your online reputation
By Brooke Bates
Smart Business Cleveland | May 2010
Page 1 of 2
You take typical safety precautions with your business, from locking the doors at night to trademarking your brand. Craig S. Horbus, Esq. attorney at Witschey, Witschey & Firestine Co. LPA, wonders why you aren’t doing the same to protect yourself online.
“For a company to have a successful online presence, they really have to start thinking about protecting their online reputation as much as they protect their real-world reputation,” says Horbus, who specializes in e-business law.
One of the first steps toward online respect is a privacy policy, a contractual agreement between you and your users that protects you from liability, governance and business data management standpoints online.
“Having a properly drafted privacy policy can help enhance your online reputation as it lets the world know that you are a serious player in the online world,” Horbus says. “It gives the company some street credibility in the online marketplace.”
Because it’s a binding legal contract, drafting one without a law license is asking for trouble. Seek expert advice from an attorney.
“The problem I see is these companies try to wing it themselves,” he says. “It’s not created with any legal significance, review or guidance as it pertains to that company’s specific needs.”
Horbus starts with a Web site audit that assesses the overall look and feel of the site as well as target audience, purpose and content. He also looks behind the scenes, considering whether you use data-tracking tools like cookies and Google Analytics and what happens to data after it’s collected.
“It requires a broad understanding of the information that’s being used, the analytics to get that information and the technology that’s supporting that information and that Web site,” he says. “Those are all very objective things that can play on what needs to or needs not to be in a privacy policy.”
For example, you need to disclose Google Analytics because it collects information about your users’ traffic patterns. Your users should also know whether their data gets buried in a basement server or gets printed out for your daily review.
Online security also echoes how you protect your real-world image.
