Can I prepare a website Privacy Policy without a lawyer?
Startup entrepreneurs always are looking for ways to save money. A question that I receive from time to time: Is it possible to prepare a website Privacy Policy without a lawyer’s help?
Simply copying another company’s Privacy Policy is a mistake, because two companies rarely want to handle all privacy matters exactly the same way. However, there are quite a few online Privacy Policy Generators (PPGs) – just do a Google search for “privacy policy generator”.
The user provides answers to a series of questions; based on the user’s answers, the PPG provides recommended text for a Privacy Policy. I have not examined the text that the PPGs produce, so I cannot comment on its appropriateness or legal sufficiency. However, the PPGs’ questions and choices of answers constitute a helpful checklist for thinking about privacy issues.
While I cannot recommend preparing a Privacy Policy on your own, if you must do so, a PPG can increase the likelihood that you will cover the right topics in an appropriate way.
Dana H. Shultz, Attorney at Law +1 510 547-0545 dana [at] danashultz [dot] com
This blog does not provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal advice, please contact a lawyer directly.
Dana Shultz is a business-savvy lawyer located in Northern California's San Francisco Bay Area (in the East Bay, near Oakland) who has in-depth knowledge of law, business, technology, and the needs of startup and early-stage companies.