What is Privacy Policy?

Privacy policies serve dual purposes: they fulfill legal transparency requirements and build trust with users and customers. Under GDPR, the privacy policy must include specific information such as the identity of the data controller, purposes and legal bases for processing, data retention periods, data subject rights, and details of any international data transfers. HIPAA requires covered entities to publish a Notice of Privacy Practices describing how PHI may be used and disclosed. SOC 2's Privacy criterion evaluates whether the organization's privacy commitments align with its actual practices. Best practices include writing in plain language rather than legalese, organizing content with clear headings and a table of contents, maintaining version history, and making the policy easily accessible from every page of the website or application. Organizations should review and update their privacy policy whenever they introduce new data processing activities, change vendors, or expand into new jurisdictions.