Layered Privacy Policies: The Solution to Unread Notices
The layered privacy policy has become the solution for those struggling to create a privacy notice that discloses all of the information that the law requires while best informing users of what data is collected, how it is used and with whom it is shared. Expect more companies to adopt layered privacy notices in the future as privacy policies are rewritten.
Many organizations have moved to multiple (or multi-layer) notices in order to effectively communicate the organization’s privacy notice. When an organization has multiple businesses or divisions with each one having their own privacy policy, it becomes even more crucial to help an individual that may interact with multiple components of the organization understand how their data will be handled.
Why is there a movement toward layered privacy policies?
Most online users do not read long privacy policies in their entirety. In fact, it may not even be possible for heavy internet users to read the privacy disclosure of every website that they visit. A study by two researchers at Carnegie Mellon many years ago found that reading all of the privacy notices for websites that were encountered in a year would take 76 work days each year. And that was before people were downloading mobile applications at the rate they are doing today.
Other studies have repeatedly found that the majority of the American public do not read the privacy policies. Many people have used this statistic as evidence that people do not care about their online privacy. However, it may instead be a sign that the take-it-or-leave-it nature and legalese of the disclosures of the past caused people to resign themselves to the fact that there was nothing that they could do about it. Now that there are more businesses online privacy practices is one that people in the past have become resigned to the fact that they were not able to change it.
A multilayer privacy policy provides information to users in manageable chunks so that they are able to digest it and are not overwhelmed by the prospect of reading several pages of information at once. For additional information about this evolution, please see our overview of privacy policies.
When is a Layered Privacy Notice Useful?
More businesses are moving to Privacy Centers or layered privacy notices. Layered disclosures are particularly helpful:
– when an overview would be helpful to highlight important information;
– when users aren’t going to read a longer disclosure;
– when there is limited space for display of the notice; or
– when a user only needs some of the information contained in the privacy policy to make an informed decision.
In other words, these disclosures can facilitate a more GDPR compliant, readable privacy policy.
How can Clarip Help with Layered Privacy Notices?
The Clarip Privacy Notice for Humans (TM) simplifies complex and lengthy disclosure notices into a short and easy to understand notice for consumers. The time consuming and expensive process of simplifying legalese is taken off your hands and packaged into a simple, accurate, format. The result is the ability to create GDPR privacy policies.
The short form wrapper provided by Clarip followed by a complex legal privacy notice drafted by your attorneys appropriately balances the competing interests of a detailed, legally required disclosure with an easy to comprehend notice in plain English that delivers useful facts to consumers. Overall, this helps demonstrate clarity and transparency – one of the core principles under the GDPR.
Contact Clarip Today for Help with CCPA and GPDR
The Clarip team and data privacy software are prepared to help your organization improve its privacy practices. Click here to contact us (return messages within 24 hours) or call 1-888-252-5653 to schedule a demo or speak to a member of the Clarip team.
If your challenge right now is CCPA compliance for your California operations, allow us to show you our CCPA software. From consent management software to offer the option to opt-out of the sale of personal data, to a powerful DSAR Portal to facilitate the right to access and delete, Clarip offers enterprise privacy management at an affordable price.
If you are preparing your European operations for GDPR compliance, we can help through our modular GDPR software. Whether you are looking to start the process with GDPR data mapping software, increase automation in your privacy program with DPIA software, or handle ePrivacy with a cookie consent manager, Clarip has the privacy platform that you need to bolster your program.
Click here to contact us (return messages within 24 hours) or call 1-888-252-5653 to schedule a demo and speak to a member of the Clarip team.