Why copywriting courses should cover data protection requirements
People starting copywriting courses are often surprised at the number of laws that affect what they do.
But a good online copywriting course will train them to spot potential dangers, since the penalties for getting things wrong can be damaging.
Data protection is an important area, and UK data protection law designates copywriters as data handlers and controllers.
The GDPR regulates the personal information that they may hold about people on three ways:
- How they store.
- How they use it.
- How long they keep it for.
What kind of information might a copywriter handle? Some of it is routine, and yet must still handled properly.
This article on the Information Commissioner’s blog gives some usual advice: information includes things like people’s names, postal and email address, phone numbers, dates of birth and photos of them.
Then there’s a category of more sensitive information, which may affect copywriters working in specialist sectors like health or law.
This covers individuals’ racial or ethnic original, political opinions, religious and similar beliefs, trade union membership, physical or mental condition, their sexual activities and any criminal records or allegations.
You will probably have this information stored on your PC or the archives in the cloud and databases. But the act also covers paper records like card indexes, address books and documents.
If you’re planning to start a copywriting business, make sure you include a privacy policy on your website. It needs to tell visitors how their personal data is handled, their privacy rights, and how the law protects them. This site doesn’t include one, whereas this copywriting agency has one that covers all the important things.
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