5 Biggest Privacy Violations That Startups Do

Hey IndieHackers, my name is James. I'm a Certified Compliance Expert. I started my company, Vivifi, which affordably drafts Privacy/Cookies Policies for small online businesses.

Getting certified has opened my eyes to the crazy amount of privacy violations that startups make (all of which are preventable). Here are 5 of the most common privacy violations that I see from startups.

1.) Not having a Cookie Consent Banner - Cookie Consent Banners are incredibly important to meet data legislation requirements.

2.) Not placing privacy policies in their website footer - Having a privacy policy on your website's footer is required by numerous data legislation internationally (GDPR, CalOPPA, etc.). A lot of companies (even big companies) put their Privacy Policy on a page called "Legals", which is not compliant. You must have it listed on your site, and easily accessible. The footer is the best place it should be.

3.) The one-size-fits-all Cookie Consent Banner - One Cookie Consent Banner is not the solution to international compliance. Especially in EU, requirements for Cookie Consent Banners vary from country to country. True compliance requires a dynamic Cookie Consent Banner that adjusts based on the user's location.

4.) Not listing a "Data Protection Officer" on your Privacy Policy - Mandated by GDPR, your privacy policy must contain the DPO and their contact information. This includes a physical address and email.

5.) Located outside California but not CCPA compliant - While this may be extremely obvious to many following data protection legislation, this is the most common offense I see. If you store user information who are located in California, you must meet CCPA compliance regulations. That means if your users are from California (or you sell to California) you should be CCPA compliant.

While I could go on and on about the hundreds of violations I see, these are the most common among our clients before they sign up with us. I could not cover the numerous amounts of violations in just one post, but I hope you've learned something valuable!

Vivifi is a compliance solution service, that drafts Privacy Policies, Cookies Policies, Cookie Consent Banners, and Terms & Conditions for the fraction of the price (and time) it takes traditional law firms. Our service drafts your documents and keeps them updated as legislation and data-use changes occur.

I'd love to hear your stories about compliance violations, and what other violations you've run into.