Data privacy & compliance

Data privacy refers to the protection of personal information from unauthorised access, use, or disclosure. It’s important because it safeguards individuals’ rights, builds trust with customers, and ensures compliance with legal regulations like GDPR.

Cookies are small text files stored on a user’s device by a website. They help the site remember user preferences, login information, and track activity for analytics and marketing purposes.

Analytics cookies collect data about how visitors interact with a website, such as pages visited, time spent on the site, and bounce rates. This information helps businesses understand user behavior and optimise website performance.

Some cookies, like essential cookies, are necessary for the basic functionality of a website, such as keeping items in a shopping cart. Others, like analytics and marketing cookies, are optional and require user consent in many jurisdictions.

First-party cookies are set by the website a user visits and are used for functionalities like remembering preferences. Third-party cookies are created by external domains, often for tracking users across different sites for advertising purposes.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European Union law that governs the collection, processing, and storage of personal data. It applies to any business handling the personal data of EU residents, regardless of the business’s location.

Under GDPR, websites must obtain explicit user consent before setting non-essential cookies, such as analytics and marketing cookies. Websites also need to provide clear information about what data cookies collect and how it is used.

Google Consent Mode is a framework that helps websites adjust how Google tags behave based on a user’s cookie consent preferences. It ensures compliance with data privacy laws by allowing businesses to collect aggregate data without tracking individual users without consent.

Data privacy focuses on how personal data is collected, used, and shared, while data security refers to the measures taken to protect data from unauthorised access, breaches, or theft. Both are critical components of overall data protection strategies.

A compliant privacy policy should include details about the type of data collected, how it’s used, who it’s shared with, the legal basis for processing, users’ rights, and how they can contact you for data-related concerns.