User Consent Tools (GDPR Compliance)
IMPORTANT NOTE: The information below is not legal advice. Please consult with an attorney that specializes in the GDPR regulation and all other regulations applicable to your website to make sure the processes of your website are in full compliance. Brilliant Directories is not liable for any violations of the GDPR or any other regulations that apply to your website.
On May 25, 2018, the European Union began enforcing the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), requiring additional requirements for websites that store and process the personal information of European Union citizens.
We added a User Consent Tool to make it easier for websites using the Brilliant Directories platform to collect consent from a user before they submit potential personal data in forms and to collect and record the specific items that users of the website consent to when submitting their personal information to the site.
When installed and activated, this tool will display additional checkboxes on forms that could potentially receive personal information from users of the website. These checkboxes must be checked in order for the form to be submitted, and a record of the consent will be kept along with that user's information for future reference.
Collecting consent to store and process personal information is one of the listed ways to establish Lawful Basis for Processing, one of the requirements of the GDPR. In addition, this can be useful information to track for any website owner that would like to keep records of what users of the website consented to when creating their account.
This is a Free Add-On and Enabled on All Websites
Installation and Activation
The User Consent Tools can be installed and activated by navigating to the Settings » General Settings » General tab in the Admin area of the site. If this website was created before this tool was launched, you will see an Install button here:
Click on "Install" to install the feature.
If the website was created after this tool was made available, or after installation, there will be a field here to activate the tool. Select "Yes" and click on "Save Changes" to activate the tool:
Functionality
Once this feature is enabled, consent checkboxes will automatically be added to the following places:
Signup Forms (both free and paid):
Upgrade Form:
Update Credit Card Form:
Review Form:
Managing the Consent Items
Consent items can easily be edited, removed, or added (up to 5 items total per form) through the Text Labels functionality of the website. To edit the Text Labels, navigate to the Admin >> Settings >> Text Labels.
Once here, enter "consent" in the search field to display all of the Text Labels related to this tool.
There are different sets of text labels for different purposes.
Member Consent Items
Used when members will submit data to the website (when members sign up, update their credit card, or upgrade):
- member_consent_1
- member_consent_2
- member_consent_3
- member_consent_4
- member_consent_5
Review Consent Items
When a visitor to the website submits a review for a member:
- review_consent_1
- review_consent_2
- review_consent_3
- review_consent_4
- review_consent_5
Contact Us Consent Items
When a visitor to the website submits a lead:
- contact_us_consent_1
- contact_us_consent_2
Lead Consent Items
When a visitor to the website submits a lead:
- lead_form_consent_1
- lead_form_consent_2
Newsletter Consent Items
When a visitor to the website submits a lead:
- newsletter_consent_1
- newsletter_consent_2
The number of the text label relates to the order it will appear in the form. For example, the text in the "member_consent_1" Text Label will be the text of the first consent checkbox related to members, "member_consent_2", will be the second consent item, etc.
Editing a Consent Item
To edit the text of one of the existing consent items, simply search for the consent item Text Label you would like to change the content of, and edit the text directly.
Adding a Consent Item
To add an additional consent item, simply enter text into one of the blank consent Text Labels. For example, if member_consent_1, 2, and 3 all have text already, enter new text into member_consent_4, and it will automatically appear as a 4th checkbox for members.
Removing a Consent Item
To remove a consent item, simply delete the content of the Text Label, and it will no longer appear.
Storing and Exporting Consent History
When a user submits a form that has consent items, the name, email, date and time, and the full text of each item that was consented to will be stored in your website's database along with the user's information in JSON format.
Member consent items will be stored in the users_data table in the user_consent field.
Review consent items will be stored in the users_reviews table in the user_consent field.
Lead consent items will be stored in the leads table in the user_consent field.
All of this data can be exported at any time in SQL or CSV format by logging into the website's database and using the export tools found there.
Requiring New Consent for Each Action
By default, once a user has clicked on the consent checkboxes once, they will not be prompted for future actions. For example, if a member signed up and consented at that time, they will not have to consent again when upgrading or updating their credit card.
However, in some use cases, a website will have the need to frequently update the consent items and store a complete history of a user's consent to those changing items over time.
By setting the Advanced Setting "require_new_consent" to 1, every time a member upgrades or updates their credit card information, they will be required to consent again. This additional consent will be stored in the same field in the users_data table, added as an additional item to the JSON file. In other words, the new consent will not overwrite any existing consent, instead, it will be added to any existing consent.
