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  1. #1
    You do realize by 'gay' I mean a man who has sex with other men?
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    WTF? New Year - New Online Laws

    Okay there are some new laws coming into effect in the US over the coming 3-6 months that we need to be aare of when running our online businesses.

    This first article looks at one of the California state laws that comes into effect regarding privacy policies and online sites.

    Online Adult Laws - Privacy Policies

    To many webmasters and companies working online the fundamental basics of their business is to turn a profit through effective online marketing campaigns and promotions however, within all of this profit making there is a side of business that is so often overlooked or, forgotten entirely, what is this business practice? The law.

    In this brief article we will take a look at one such law that comes into effect in California on the 1st July 2004 namely, that all 'web sites that collect any personal information from consumers to post a privacy policy'. Whilst this in itself is the first law of its kind in the United States it is worth mentioning that this is only a State law that affects California however, that said, where one state starts, others are sure to follow especially considering the huge potential left for the growth of the internet.

    Privacy Policies - How Does This Effect You?

    The main factor that you must take into consideration with this new law from California is that, because the Internet is truly global, you have no way of telling where one of your surfers are coming from thus, a surfer entering your site from California, may be making you break the law by not displaying a privacy policy should you collect their information. Incidentally, this new privacy policy law does not state what 'collected' information requires you to post a policy however, it would seem that personal information such as addresses, phone numbers and email addresses would be the primary target of this new Californian online law.

    Privacy Policies - The Basics.

    So what is a privacy policy, in essence, it is a document informing your site visitors / customers that any information you collect from them, including user submitted information will be used in a specific way, this might be a case of solely being used by yourself or, specifically if you rent out this information you need to tell your surfers / customers exactly who you are renting this information to.

    Privacy Policies - Overview.

    Whether you collect personal information from you site visitors or not the one thing that makes sense is to have a page created ready for the 1st July 2004 so that you can have it online for when you need it, perhaps storing this page on a central domain and linking to that page from all of your other web sites would be the best method to go as far as ensuring you are covered from prosecution or, perhaps creating a keyword rich privacy policy which you can get listed in the search engines is the way to go after all, just because this will become a legal requirement for you it does not mean that you cant profit from the potential traffic going to that page.

    Article written by Lee.

    http://www.gaywidewebmasters.com
    I will post several other online legal law breakdowns over the coming weeks for you too as some of them from what i can tell are um... interesting to say the least.

    Regards,

    Lee


  2. #2
    virgin by request ;) Chilihost's Avatar
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    Lee, good info, do you know how this affects sites that are owned by non-US webmasters? And I am also curious about other US rules/laws and what their true impact is on non-US webmasters, for instance the new anti-spam laws and for that matter the 2257 regs too.


    cheers,

    Luke


  3. #3
    You do realize by 'gay' I mean a man who has sex with other men?
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    Originally posted by Chilihost
    Lee, good info, do you know how this affects sites that are owned by non-US webmasters? And I am also curious about other US rules/laws and what their true impact is on non-US webmasters, for instance the new anti-spam laws and for that matter the 2257 regs too.
    Hey Doll hope you had a great New Years eve last night

    So far as how this new law affects Non-US based webmasters, at the present time, my advice would be to contact your lawyer, each country has their own rules and regulations so far as the internet and, specifically marketing online.

    One good method to work by though should you not have your own legal council is to adhere to as many of the US based laws as possible specifically those pertaining to the 2257 and anti-spam laws mainly for the sole reason that most, if not all of the sponsors we us as webmasters are based in the US and, if we dont follow the guidleines that they set us to the letter, they can and often do terminate accounts without payment.

    As i say though the best advice i can give, not being a lawyer myself is to ask your own lawyer and you wont go far wrong :groovy:

    Regards,

    Lee


  4. #4
    virgin by request ;) Chilihost's Avatar
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    Lee, I know the best advice is always to check with your lawyer but I was just thinking of the overall effect of these new laws. I guess I was wondering these laws will <i>really</i> impact the industry. For instance, I would love to see the recommended changes in the spam laws come true but IMHO they will only end up making more work for legit double-opt-in list owners since this does not cover spam sent from non-US countries, which is where most spam originates anyway. I guess it will just be a wait-and-see thing.

    And yes, New Years Eve was fun as always, I hope it was good for you too :grin:

    cheers!

    Luke


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