If you happen to ask website owners or web masters to list the top five concerns they may have about their websites, chances are that customer privacy will surely make it to that list. Site owners who provide live chat service on their websites are especially vulnerable in that the privacy buck ultimately stops at their table. This is because live chat communication is designed by default to generate chat transcripts which may carry confidential information. How are you to protect yourself from this vulnerability especially in the light of the serious and legal implications of a privacy breach? Here are a few recommendations, which you should consider implementing immediately if you haven’t already done so:   

Iron Clad Privacy Statement
Simply copy pasting a privacy statement from someone else’s website with a few changes here and a few modifications there isn’t going to cut mustard. It is certainly not going to protect you in court. Seek the advice of a competent legal professional such as an attorney when composing your privacy statement. Depending on where in the world you live, there are laws you have to abide by and stipulations you have to state explicitly.

Asking your Chat Operators to Draw the Line
It is not only physically impossible but also unrealistic for anyone to expect you as the business owner to be able to monitor every chat communication that occurs on your website. Therefore, it is a good idea to instruct your chat operators in writing not to solicit private information from your customers or site visitors. Even if your customers provide this information voluntarily, you are still legally responsible in many jurisdictions. Regardless of whether or not you are governed by privacy laws in your country, it is a good idea to train your support operators to refrain from wandering into grey territory and asking your site visitors to answer personal questions. Remember, there is always a paper trail its digital manifestation not withstanding.

Full Proof Transcript Protection
We strongly recommend that in order to ensure that your customers do not end up gaining access to chat transcripts that are not based on their own interaction you should install live chat on your server in strict accordance with the instructions and directives provided to you by your live chat service provider. Test your live chat service at least once every two weeks by asking one of your employees to pose as a customer and monitor the performance from the other side of the fence. Report any inconsistencies to your service provider immediately.

SSL Security Encryption
We don’t simply recommend but urge you to use only those live chat services that guarantee 256 bit SSL encryption during the chat communication on your website. This especially holds true if you happen to be the owner or a management head of a financial institution, a medical facility or deal with tax issues. SSL encryption will slow your servers down but will protect your customers and you at the same time. This is a small price well worth paying.

Restricted Access to Chat Transcripts
Not everyone in your organization should have direct access to the chat transcripts of your customers. Configure your chat functionality in such a way that only those who really need the access actually have the access to customer chat transcripts.

From time to time, we will bring you more information on privacy issues as and when new laws are enacted and privacy dynamics undergo a modification. In the meantime, try to protect your company and your customers by taking the steps we have outlined here, by implementing them and by testing their efficacy.