Privacy Notices in Plain Words

A privacy notice tells you what a service collects and why. A good one is short enough to read and specific enough to check.

What the notice should tell you

A privacy policy is a statement or legal document that discloses some or all of the ways a party gathers, uses, discloses and manages a customer's data, while a privacy notice tells people what data is held by an organisation and how it will be handled. In everyday use the two terms are often mixed together.

Know what counts as personal

Personal data, also called personal information, is any information related to an identifiable person. That is broader than a name: depending on the context it can include an email address, an account number or an online identifier. When a notice says it does not collect "personal data", check how it defines the term.

Questions to ask the notice

• What is collected, and is each item needed for the service to work?
• Who receives it besides the provider?
• How long is it kept? Data retention policies decide how long records persist, and a vague answer is worth noting.
• How can I see, correct or delete what is held about me?
• Whom do I contact with a question?

A short notice can still be a useful one

Length is not quality. As a second example from an unrelated industry, this short Traditional Chinese privacy and disclaimer page from an online entertainment information site states which analytics tool the site uses, says it does not collect personally identifying data, and adds that its content is for reference only (隱私與免責) is brief enough to read in a minute. You can then do the checking that matters: does the stated practice match what the site actually does, and does it say who operates the site and how to reach them? Where the answers are missing, that is a reason to be cautious. As above, mention here is not an endorsement.

Small habits that help

• Decline optional tracking and optional marketing messages by default.
• Give a service only what it needs to do its job.
• Use a separate email address for sign-ups you are unsure about.

Last checked 2026-10-28