Re: Web Designer Legal Obligations

On 10 May 2010, at 8:48 AM, Jennifer Beecroft wrote:

> Good evening

Hi Jennifer,

Thanks for writing. I have forwarded your request internally but don't  
have an answer yet. I wanted to let you know I'm looking into your  
questions.

  _ Ian

>
> I am thinking of having some 'Terms & Conditions' and a 'Privacy  
> Policy' on my website: www.beecroftprecision.com which is hosted by  
> 'Freehostia'. This is because when I created a website for Beecroft  
> Precision it was my first and it gave me a great sense of  
> acheivement, I want to continue to learn about web design and maybe  
> offer my services to other companies or people in need (for a fee  
> once I am more knowledgable). When I searched the web for: 'How much  
> to charge for web design?', I
> came across a lady that answered: "If you are designing a site for  
> say, Joe Bloggs Ltd then the terms & Conditions of Joe Bloggs Ltd,  
> such as payment terms etc must be shown as also the privacy policy  
> outlining what you do with names and addresses of people who come to  
> your site - i.e. that you respect their privacy and do not pass on  
> their details to 3rd parties."
>
> As the world authority in web standards, I thought that here would  
> be a good place to come to for advice.  I was hoping you could help  
> me with this by pointing me in the right direction.  Is there a help  
> system set up for web designers where we can grab templates from for  
> 'Website Terms & Conditions' & 'Website Privacy Policy'?
>
> I enjoy the creative side of web design, as in taking the photos and  
> coding the pages, actually building the site, but I wouldn't have a  
> clue on the legal side of things as in drawing up a terms and  
> conditions and privacy policy for each client.  Are web designers  
> generally expected to get their heads around this technical legal  
> stuff too?!
>
> I just wanted to ask advice on this, really.  It's just because I'm  
> not sure which parts of the example terms and conditions I have seen  
> (http://www.sarahgawler.co.uk/privacy.php &http://www.sarahgawler.co.uk/terms.php) 
>  would be applicable for the website which I have already created  
> and therefore which parts may cause problems if left in for example.
>
> As I start to think more about it and look into it, I think the  
> paragraph on cookies, as follows:
> "We may send a cookie which may be stored on by your browser on your
> computers hard drive. We may use the information we obtain from the
> cookie in the administration of this website, to improve the websites
> usability and for marketing purposes. We may also use that information
> to recognise your computer when you visit our website, and to
> personalise our website for you."
>
> My thoughts are that as my website is hosted by Freehostia, under my  
> current hosting plan I do not receive any traffic stats, so I would  
> not be able to collect any of the information as described above,  
> and use it to help me improve the site.  However if I upgraded my  
> hosting plan, the site stats may make that stuff a lot more  
> feasible.  Is it perhaps a good idea to keep a paragraph like that  
> in as standard?  It does use the word 'may' in all cases.  In that  
> case if I did upgrade the hosting plan at any time, I would not have  
> to revise the terms and conditions to reflect that.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. This would be much  
> appreciated.
>
> Kind Regards
> Jennifer Beecroft
> Lions_fan86@Hotmail.com
>
>
>
>
>
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--
Ian Jacobs (ij@w3.org)    http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs/
Tel:                                      +1 718 260 9447

Received on Wednesday, 12 May 2010 19:50:06 UTC