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Fran Wicks
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Articles by Fran Wicks
Guest blogger Fran Wicks is a retired project manager with the federal government and an technology devotee. She has been an enthusiastic member of the internet community since 1998 focussing on website design, content creation and social media. She is also a happy WHC hosting client.
Do I really need a Privacy Statement on my Website?
In 2018 Google and Facebook security breaches and the arrival of GDPR made online privacy a front-page news topic. As a website owner or entrepreneur,...
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Do I really need a Privacy Statement on my Website?
In 2018 Google and Facebook security breaches and the arrival of GDPR made online privacy a front-page news topic. As a website owner or entrepreneur, how much thought have you put in to your own website's privacy policy? If not enough, this article will help you understand privacy policies from a Canadian perspective and provide links to help you create, update, or re-evaluate your own privacy policy.
But first, let’s answer one of the most pressing questions.
Does anyone even read privacy policies?
Let’s be frank: Privacy policies don’t get much attention. A study posted in 2016 from Toronto’s York University showed that 77% of people don’t look at privacy policies at all. In fact, that same study, found that as many as 98% of visitors agreed to a Privacy Policy which included a clause to provide their first-born child as payment! So it is true that very few visitors to your website will take the time to read your Privacy Policy. But that is not the point of having one. There are 3 main reasons you need a privacy policy on your website:- Increase customer trust: When your visitors or clients become concerned about the privacy of their personal information, they have a resource they can inspect to be reassured. This document helps reinforce their perception of trust for your company or organization.
- Reduce risk and liability: By publishing an official document discussing visitor privacy, you’re also taking the first steps towards ensuring you comply with your legal obligations surrounding the management of customer data and are therefore protecting yourself from associated risks surrounding data loss or theft.
- Expose organizational weaknesses: By taking the time to write an effective privacy policy, you're taking the time to think about your customer's private data and what you are currently doing to protect it. This exercice is likely to expose a few areas of improvements, some that you may be able to quickly address with minimal or no additional cost.
PIPEDA: Canada’s Answer to Privacy Concerns
If you are a Canadian company or you collect the information of your Canadian visitors, then you are subject to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) of Canada. PIPEDA defines personal information and sets out 10 principles that every business needs to address. According to PIPEDA, there are two types of personal information:- Customer, such as financial information and shipping information.
- Employee, such as SIN numbers, resumes, and employment records.
Other Privacy Considerations for Website Owners
PIPEDA’s 10 principles are wide ranging but there are some other fine grain details that a website owner should be aware of.Subscribers & Anti-Spam
If you plan to collect emails for a contact list, you will be collecting personal information. You should be aware that there is Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) which dictates how to gather, maintain and use this type of information. Among other things, this legislation has rules governing consent, how to provide ways to unsubscribe, data protection and explicit use provisions. For a quick look, check out their fast facts page.Cookies
Cookies are most commonly used to track a visitors website activity, often acting as identification cards. While cookies are generally an important part of websites that provide users with useful functionality, it's also caused some concern regarding the privacy of one’s personal information. Due to the different types of cookies and the diversity of information they can collect, the Canadian Government does not require website operators to stop using cookies. Instead, the official directives mention that it is website visitor's responsibility to manage their cookie preferences:To protect your privacy on the web, you need to learn about the cookie controls provided in your browser.”Want to know more? You can find detailed information on web tracking with cookies within the website for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Roll-your-own Privacy Policy
Hopefully by now you've understood the importance of having an effective privacy policy. But how do you start creating one that will help make your business compliant with PIPEDA? Developing a privacy policy and internal procedures is made easier in Canada by reviewing the contents of the PIPEDA compliance help page for businesses, provided by the Privacy Commissioner. As legislators in Canada and around the world grapple with finding the right balance between enforcement, security, user consent, and access, the legal frameworks will continue to evolve. Thus, your own privacy policy should be reviewed at least once a year. Have a look at the Government of Canada’s 10 Tips for a Better Online Privacy Policy and Improved Privacy Practice Transparency infographic to get a head start on building your own website’s Privacy Policy. Termsfeed.com offers a convenient Privacy Policy Generator as well as a template to help you get started on the right foot.Final Note About Privacy
Other than the legal obligations of a website owner, privacy is an important issue to all members of the online community. Perhaps you stop yourself from speeding through a school zone or littering on the streets because it is illegal, but you probably also see the community benefit. Building a privacy policy is a way to self-test your online business principles, integrity and values and put privacy “speed limits” on your business. We need to look out for each other and our data to ensure a thriving internet community in Canada because we all benefit in the end. Just don’t ask for anyone’s first-born children, though!
Web Hosting Canada’s 2018 Year in Review + 2019 Sneak Peek
2018 was a huge year for website owners and operators. Innovative tools and important platform updates have created effective new ways to grow and succeed online, with Web Hosting Canada leading some of these initiatives for Canadian small businesses. Let’s review some of the highlights!
Happy hosting,
New WordPress Hosting and a New WordPress Experience
August 2018 saw the launch of WHC’s very own Managed WordPress Hosting, designed from the ground up to help you get your WordPress site online quickly, make it run faster than ever while keeping it updated and secure. The launch coincided with Montreal’s WordCamp conference, where WHC’s team hosted a talk on the topic of WordPress security and had a chance to meet face to face with new and existing clients. In early December and after much anticipation WordPress 5.0 was finally launched. It introduced Gutenberg, a new visual editor that promises to change the way you manage your websites.Better Performance for Faster Websites
Performance was front and center in 2018. WHC continued upgrading web hosting, WordPress hosting and reseller hosting plans to full SSD storage providing some of the fastest read/write performance available on the market today. Fast storage was just the beginning: WHC clients got another boost as LiteSpeed server technology was deployed, improving response time and stability. A few months later saw the deployment of LiteSpeed Dynamic Caching making even complex WordPress, Joomla and Drupal sites load faster than ever.Improved User Experience to Get More Done, Faster
Not to be outdone by under-the-hood improvements, WHC clients got more power in the palm of their hand with cPanel iPhone App, helping them manage their cPanel hosting account on the go. And speaking of help, WHC’s knowledgebase got a facelift, helping clients find answers to their questions faster than ever. All this, in addition to the hundreds of tweaks, updates and fixes that we’ve made to our existing tools and dashboards in order to make your journey simpler and more intuitive.A Focus on Security
With the number of significant security breaches and incidents, privacy of information and cybersecurity were hot topics in 2018. The year kicked off with the massive CPU security flaws known as Meltdown and Spectre, affecting most computer systems and devices on the planet. A few months later, Facebook and Google breaches confirmed that even large technology companies, that you may have trusted with your personal data, are not the fortresses we thought them to be. If security vulnerabilities weren’t enough, malicious techniques such as domain slamming and cPanel phishing scams continued invading inboxes and potentially harming unsuspecting targets. But there were also many steps taken to protect users in 2018. Europe’s new privacy framework, called GDPR, raised the global standard of personal information privacy protection, and WHC took its own steps to safeguard its clients’ data with an updated privacy policy. Google took security a step further as well, as its Chrome browser started flagging sites that didn’t use SSL encryption as Not Secure, while WHC’s Weebly plans were improved to now include free, automatic SSL security on the Starter or greater site builder plans. WHC deployed Imunify360, its most powerful security system to date across all its web hosting, WordPress hosting and reseller hosting plans. This advanced firewall adds six additional layers of security to your websites, uses artificial intelligence to proactively protect against undiscovered exploits and herd intelligence to create real-time security protocols against evolving threats.Connecting Canadians with Information that Matters
Keeping you informed to make smart decisions is an important part of our job, and 2018 allowed us to dive deeper into subjects that Canadians and Canadian businesses wanted to know more about. We took a deeper dive into the history of .CA, Canada’s official domain extension, while also exploring the importance of having your data hosted in Canada for security, confidentiality and performance. With the ongoing concerns of global warming and worrying expert reports of the growing effects of man-made emissions on our planet, we delved into what it means to be an eco-friendly hosting company, how we have gone green by making smart choices in our datacenters and how you can too. As there are so many website and hosting providers online, we’ve also outlined what we believe are the most important factors for choosing the right hosting company. We’ve done the heavy lifting for you and put forward all the data that you need to make smart, informed decisions about the well being of your websites. Canadian small business were thirsty for information on how to gain visibility online and how to drive visitors to their websites. In a series of blog posts, WHC explained the easiest way to increase visibility Google with rich results and how rankingCoach can help improve your ranking on search engines. We also provided an in-depth guide on how to prepare your website for Black Friday, which includes pertinent advice that can be applied to create effective promotions throughout the year. Finally, 2018 saw a few other interesting developments, including the much-touted legalization of cannabis, which almost overnight legalized a new, multi-billion dollar industry in Canada. On the tech front, cPanel was acquired by Oakley Capital, who also owns Plesk, the other major control panel in the industry, paving the way for an interesting product roadmap in the near future.What’s Coming in 2019
Continuing on the momentum of 2018, you can expect WHC to invest its time and energy on what matters most to Canadian Small Businesses, notably:- Improving User Experience: We’re going to make our tools and solutions easier to use and more intuitive so that you can get more done in less time. Expect notable updates across all product lines, including Managed WordPress, Weebly, Domains and Web Hosting.
- Leveraging Automation: As systems grow, so does the need to automate actions that will resolve situations in a fast and consistent manner. We’ll continue investing heavily to make our platform smarter by automating security, performance, and deployments like never before and providing you with powerful features you’ll learn to love, particularly across Domains, Cloud Servers and Dedicated Servers.
- Streamlining Customer Service: Your questions deserve fast, accurate answers from experts you trust. We’ve nearly doubled our team in 2018, and expect to add even more staff to continue providing you with the level of service you’ve come to expect from us, 24/7.
Thank You for Making WHC Canada’s Fastest Growing Web Host
As 2018 wraps up, we want to sincerely thank the more than 25,000 clients that have trusted WHC with their business online and have awarded us a 4.9/5 rating for customer satisfaction. Existing clients are often experts in their own field, and we’re now happy to be accepting applications for blog contributors to write and partake their valuable knowledge and inspiration on this very blog. And if you’ve appreciated the service you’ve gotten, why not consider referring a friend, colleague or fellow entrepreneur to WHC through our affiliate program? It could earn you up to 300$ while connecting them to an award-winning service provider. Is there a particular suggestion or feature you’d like to see in 2019? Your online success drives us daily, and we want to hear from you. So consider dropping us a note in the comments below and here’s to making 2019 the best it can be!
Happy hosting,
Comodo CA is Now Sectigo
Web Hosting Canada has proudly partnered with Comodo for many years as its primary SSL Certificates provider. SSL Certificates are used to provide trust and encryption for websites and their users online.
As Comodo CA, the division of Comodo Group responsible for SSL certificates, was acquired by Francisco Partners in October of 2017, it comes as little surprise that some form of transformation should occur. Luckily, these change will not affect the reliability, functionality or cost of this important security feature.
What is changing is that Comodo CA has rebranded itself as Sectigo (pronounced Sec-TEE-go). And one of the reasons why is pretty interesting.
And here is the logo for Comodo Group
As you can imagine, these now distinct companies were often confused as being one and the same. I cringe at the thought of either group’s customer support staff having to explain again and again, “Oh I’m sorry, you’ve actually reached Comodo CA, but you're looking for Comodo Group” or vice versa.
What’s a company to do? Well, rebrand, of course!
Now at trade shows (or anywhere else), if you are searching for what was formerly known as Comodo CA, you will look for this logo.
So, if you arrive on the Web Hosting Canada’s website or client area and see that your Comodo SSL certificate has changed to Sectigo, there is no need for concern. You are getting the same great security protection, just with a new look! If you have recently purchased SSL certificates, Web Hosting Canada will be posting updated site security seals, powered by Sectigo, in your Client Area for your perusal.
If you have not already secured your website(s) with SSL, it's not too late: get your Sectigo SSL certificate today!
Happy Hosting,
Why Did Comodo CA Change Their Name?
When Francisco Partners acquired Comodo CA, this did not mean the end of Comodo Group, the former owner of Comodo CA. Comodo Group already focuses on a variety of other cybersecurity solutions, including antivirus & firewall solutions. As both Comodo CA and Comodo Group are in the cybersecurity industry they would often be at the same events and tradeshows. This caused a great deal of confusion. Why? Here is the logo for Comodo CA
And here is the logo for Comodo Group
As you can imagine, these now distinct companies were often confused as being one and the same. I cringe at the thought of either group’s customer support staff having to explain again and again, “Oh I’m sorry, you’ve actually reached Comodo CA, but you're looking for Comodo Group” or vice versa.
What’s a company to do? Well, rebrand, of course!
Now at trade shows (or anywhere else), if you are searching for what was formerly known as Comodo CA, you will look for this logo.
So, if you arrive on the Web Hosting Canada’s website or client area and see that your Comodo SSL certificate has changed to Sectigo, there is no need for concern. You are getting the same great security protection, just with a new look! If you have recently purchased SSL certificates, Web Hosting Canada will be posting updated site security seals, powered by Sectigo, in your Client Area for your perusal.
If you have not already secured your website(s) with SSL, it's not too late: get your Sectigo SSL certificate today!
Happy Hosting,
