Log in to your Adsense accounts and you would be prompted to read the newly revised version of the Google Adsense Terms of Service (TOS). A couple of changes had been made to the TOS (Read a summary of the changes here) but the most interesting out of all of them is that Google now requires all AdSense users to have a Privacy Policy page on their blogs.

What’s a Privacy Policy Page?

According to Wikipedia, Privacy policy is…

… a legal notice on a website providing information about the use of personal information - particularly personal information collected via the website - by the website owner. Privacy policies usually contain details of what personal information is collected, how the personal information may be used, the persons to whom the personal information may be disclosed, the security measures taken to protect the personal information, and whether the website uses cookies and/or web bugs. [Source]

The TOS specifies that with every page that has a Google AdSense Ad, there should be a link pointing visitors to a Privacy Policy Page. This can be placed anywhere on the page as long as the link is visible.

Here’s the exact line from the TOS stating this requirement:

You must have and abide by an appropriate privacy policy that clearly discloses that third parties may be placing and reading cookies on your users’ browser, or using web beacons to collect information, in the course of ads being served on your website. Your privacy policy should also include information about user options for cookie management.

How can I make a Privacy Policy Page?

You could make one from scratch or you could just copy my Privacy Policy or Marghil Macuha’s and replace the necessary details with yours. Or if you really want something unique you could try this cool Privacy Policy Generator.

So if you have AdSense ads on your blog but don’t have a Privacy Policy page yet, then you are in direct violation of the Google AdSense TOS! Gasp! Update na!

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