Privacy Banner Options
Businesses have a few options when it comes to privacy banners.
It’s important to note, privacy banners are not currently required by the US privacy laws covered by TrueVault. However, there may be reasons that a business may want to add a privacy banner anyway.
For example, some businesses may want their website experience to be the same across all regions, including Europe (where cookie consent is required). Another reason may be to reduce the chance of being targeted for lawsuits under other laws, such as wiretap laws.
Option #1: No Banner
As stated above, US state privacy laws do not currently require privacy banners, and opt-in consent is only required for a few limited types of processing activities. For this reason, many businesses choose not to add any kind of privacy banner to their websites.
Option #2: Informational Banner
The informational banner serves to draw website visitors’ attention to a business’s privacy practices. We have provided generic text, but you may customize the text as needed.
Importantly, the informational banner does not collect visitors’ express consent. Whether the visitor ignores the banner, closes the banner, or clicks “I Understand,” the result is the same; it will not affect the functionality of your site.
Option #3: Consent Banner
The consent banner works similarly to the cookie consent banner required in Europe, but with a few adjustments for US privacy laws.
The consent banner has two components: The small banner that a visitor sees when they first visit your website, and the larger consent-management dashboard in which visitors can customize and change their privacy choices.
How these components function will depend on whether you configure the banner to be Opt-In or Opt-Out.
Opt-In Configuration
“Opt-In” means that the cookies and other technologies will not be active until the visitor chooses to consent. For example, if your website uses tracking cookies for targeted advertising, the cookies will only be set after the visitor has consented; if they don’t consent, then the cookies will not be set.
In this configuration, the small banner makes visitors aware of cookies and other tracking technologies, then gives them three options: Accept All /Reject All / Manage Choices. If they choose “Manage Choices” or later click on the cookies icon, the visitor will see the larger consent-management dashboard.
If you want to collect visitors’ express consent, this is the appropriate configuration.
Opt-Out Configuration
Opt-Out means the cookies and other technologies are active by default until the visitor chooses to deactivate them.
In this configuration, the small banner makes visitors aware of cookies and other tracking technologies, then gives them one option: Manage Choices. If they choose “Manage Choices” or later click on the cookies icon, the visitor will see the larger consent-management dashboard.
Please note that this configuration does not collect visitors’ express consent, because the technologies are active by default.