Establishing policies that protect privacy and free speech can be a good way to stand out from your competitors. Protecting your users' rights though legal and other means can generate valuable trust and goodwill that will pay off in the long run. The following sections give you the chance to ask yourself important questions about how your company is currently doing business. Use the tips here to build a solid plan that will save your company money, time, and reputation by properly protecting privacy and free speech.
These tips will help you get an edge by building customer loyalty and trust while protecting your company from both litigation and excessive demands for information. In a competitive market, superior privacy and free speech policies might be the difference between success and failure.
KEEP USERS INFORMED
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Develop a comprehensive and easy-to-understand privacy policy
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Post your privacy policy prominently on all Web pages
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Always follow your privacy policy
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Alert users and employees to privacy policy changes
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Provide notice and get user consent for software and service updates
PROTECT USERS WHILE GATHERING DATA
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Collect and store only necessary user information
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Aggregate or anonymize user transactional data where appropriate
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Inform users about data collection
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Use "opt-in" processes to collect and share user data
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Have easy, fast, and effective user correction and deletion procedures for user data
PROTECT USER DATA FROM DISCLOSURE
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Ensure proper legal process for disclosures and resist overbroad requests
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Promptly notify users about disclosure requests whenever possible
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Disclose only required information
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Safeguard user data—protect devices and develop data security practices
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Quickly respond, notify, and provide service for data breaches
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Protect users from surreptitious monitoring
PROMOTE FREE SPEECH
AVOID POLICIES AND PRACTICES THAT CHILL FREE SPEECH
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Draft your terms of use and service narrowly to avoid stifling protected speech
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Safeguard product trust by not monitoring and tracking speech
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Respect free speech in takedowns
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Plan for fair use before deploying digital rights management (DRM)