Quite sure this new reCAPTCHA text (and the popup) are entirely GDPR (and other privacy laws) related. As I'm sure many of you are aware, that is a very large privacy law from Europe, and if any visitors of your website come from Europe, your site MUST be GDPR compliant. As this is the *internet* we're talking about here, it's theoretically possible that every website could have European users.
reCAPTCHA collects user data and is a Google product. Because it collects user data, it, by law, must display their privacy policy clearly and plainly to the user exactly where that data is being collected. Because reCAPTCHA is a Google product, I believe it may be Google's responsibility to follow this law where their product is offered. Especially considering it is Google's privacy policy and terms that it's linking to, not our web sites' or Squarespace's.
From understanding this, it becomes pretty easy to imagine that Google is requiring Squarespace to display this text (and exactly this text) wherever reCAPTCHA is used, or Google will disallow Squarespace from using or providing the reCAPTCHA product. So the message that "we had no choice, we had to add this text" makes perfect sense. OR, if the responsibility falls to Squarespace, then they just may want to cover their butts on the privacy law front.
GDPR is getting quite serious with enforcement now that it's been out for a few years (since May 2018), and the penalties are quite steep for noncompliance.
Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how you feel about privacy laws), I see this becoming an even more prevalent "skin" on the internet. It is not enough to put this information on some other page somewhere, or hidden away somewhere else. It must be plain and clear wherever the user's data is being collected. The user has a right to know exactly when and where their data is being collected, and how it's going to be used. That is the basic logic behind GDPR (and other privacy legislation).
And of course for my own disclaimer - I am not a lawyer, this is just how I've come to understand the law and how it impacts websites.
It would be nice if there was at least styling options, or even translation options, as that is what lead me to this thread. Because it's quite ironic that by law, the notification of data collection MUST exist, but you cannot translate the text so that your users can actually use it? I think the clarification on if your policies, etc., need to be translated is still quite fuzzy. We'll have to wait and see how the law continues to be interpreted in the courts.
Hope this at least brings some clarification to the possible motivation behind this strong-armed text addition.
✨ Hooray international privacy law ✨
Quite sure this new reCAPTCHA text (and the popup) are entirely GDPR (and other privacy laws) related. As I'm sure many of you are aware, that is a very large privacy law from Europe, and if any visitors of your website come from Europe, your site MUST be GDPR compliant. As this is the *internet* we're talking about here, it's theoretically possible that every website could have European users. reCAPTCHA collects user data and is a Google product. Because it collects user data, it, by law, must display their privacy policy clearly and plainly to the user exactly where that data is being collected. Because reCAPTCHA is a Google product, I believe it may be Google's responsibility to follow this law where their product is offered. Especially considering it is Google's privacy policy and terms that it's linking to, not our web sites' or Squarespace's. From understanding this, it becomes pretty easy to imagine that Google is requiring Squarespace to display this text (and exactly this text) wherever reCAPTCHA is used, or Google will disallow Squarespace from using or providing the reCAPTCHA product. So the message that "we had no choice, we had to add this text" makes perfect sense. OR, if the responsibility falls to Squarespace, then they just may want to cover their butts on the privacy law front. GDPR is getting quite serious with enforcement now that it's been out for a few years (since May 2018), and the penalties are quite steep for noncompliance. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how you feel about privacy laws), I see this becoming an even more prevalent "skin" on the internet. It is not enough to put this information on some other page somewhere, or hidden away somewhere else. It must be plain and clear wherever the user's data is being collected. The user has a right to know exactly when and where their data is being collected, and how it's going to be used. That is the basic logic behind GDPR (and other privacy legislation). And of course for my own disclaimer - I am not a lawyer, this is just how I've come to understand the law and how it impacts websites. It would be nice if there was at least styling options, or even translation options, as that is what lead me to this thread. Because it's quite ironic that by law, the notification of data collection MUST exist, but you cannot translate the text so that your users can actually use it? I think the clarification on if your policies, etc., need to be translated is still quite fuzzy. We'll have to wait and see how the law continues to be interpreted in the courts. Hope this at least brings some clarification to the possible motivation behind this strong-armed text addition. ✨ Hooray international privacy law ✨
