Privacy and Terms pages written from what your site really does
Every published Anticode site has a Privacy Policy at /privacy and Terms of Use at /terms, linked from the footer of every page. They aren't a template with blanks. They're written from what the published site actually collects, which services see that data and how visitors pay, and they change when the site does. They're a starting point, not legal advice.
The trouble with template policies
A copied privacy policy usually describes some other website. It mentions cookies the site doesn't set, analytics it doesn't run, and says nothing about the Slack channel every enquiry is posted to. That's worse than useless: it tells visitors something untrue about their data. An auto generated privacy policy and terms set is only worth having if it's generated from the real site, and if it keeps up when the site changes.
What the documents are written from
Each time you publish, Anticode's server reads the published HTML, never what the browser claims, and records an inventory:
- Forms and the personal details they keep. For the built-in forms this is fixed by what the server stores: name, email and message for contact; name, email, phone, day, time and service for bookings; an email address for the newsletter and for account requests. For a custom form, the fields are read from the page.
- Payment links and who takes the money, recognised by address: Stripe, PayPal, Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Shopify, Whop and several others.
- Outside services the page loads from, such as Google Fonts and Unsplash photos, and any other host.
- Contact details from email and phone links.
Where submissions go is read live each time a document is shown, not at publish. Switch on a form connector for Google Sheets and the Privacy Policy names Google as a recipient straight away; switch it off and that line disappears.
What the Privacy Policy covers
| Section | What it says |
|---|---|
| Who we are | The site's address, your business name and country, and how to reach you about data |
| What we collect | Each form and the details it keeps, and what they're used for. A site with no forms says it collects nothing typed |
| Visits | Page views are counted without cookies, keeping only the day and a broad source. When a form is sent, a one-way hash of the network address is kept for a few minutes to stop spam |
| Who else handles it | Anticode as host, on Cloudflare's network; then only the services this site uses, by name: the email provider for your inbox copies, Slack, Discord, Telegram, Sheets, Airtable, Notion, HubSpot, Mailchimp, Kit, a webhook, the payment providers, Google Fonts, Unsplash |
| Cookies | That the site sets none and runs no scripts in the browser |
| Keeping it, and your choices | How long submissions are kept, how to ask for them to be seen, corrected or deleted, and that visitors can complain to their data protection authority |
What the Terms cover
The Terms of Use are shorter and also follow the site. Every site gets sections on using the site lawfully, ownership of its text and images, accuracy, links to other sites and liability as far as the law allows. A booking form adds a section saying a booking is a request until you confirm it. A newsletter form adds how to stop emails. Payment links add a section saying payments are taken by the named providers on their own checkout pages. If you give a country, a section names its law.
Adding your details
Open the Console and choose Legal pages. You'll see both documents as they're served, a list of what they were written from, and a short form: Business or owner name, Contact email and an optional Country. These appear on the public pages once saved. If you publish a site whose forms collect personal details and haven't added a name and email, a note in the chat asks for them, with a button that opens this section.
Limits
- Not legal advice. Each document carries a visible note that it's a starting point and that the business named is responsible for it. Read both, and ask a professional if your situation is unusual.
- Not editable word by word. You can't rewrite clauses. If you need different wording, host your own policy and link to it from the site.
- What happens off the site isn't known. The policy covers what Anticode can see: the site and the services it sends data to. What you do with an enquiry afterwards, in your own email or tools, is yours to describe.
- No refund or cancellation terms. Those depend on your business; see the guides to writing a refund policy and terms and conditions.
- English only, like the sites themselves.
Questions people ask
Do I need a cookie banner with these pages?
Anticode's published pages set no cookies and run no scripts, and the policy says so. Whether you need a banner depends on what else you add and where you operate; the guide on cookie banners covers the question.
Will the policy change if I connect Mailchimp?
Yes. Connector destinations are read whenever the page is shown, so the Mailchimp line appears as soon as you switch it on.
Do Agency white-label sites mention Anticode?
The credit line naming Anticode as the author is removed. The policy still says who hosts the site, because that's a disclosure visitors are owed, not branding.
Where do the links to these pages appear?
Privacy and Terms links are added to the footer of every page as it's served, so they're there without any change to your design.