The problem I am encountering is I can’t see a way to remove myself from liability of customer data if I allow them access to the website thus I would like to have a separate virtual server and make them wholey responsible for everything that were to happen on that subdomain if they wish to use woo commerce.
I am looking for the most bullet proof method to remove myself from potential liabilities if they were to say sell something that wasn’t illegal while I was not watching or the retention of personal data getting leaked in the event of a hack to the woo commerce software or virtual min software bug lets say. I surely don’t want to be the target of a data leak lawsuit. Although it will be a 3rd party payment processor being square there is still a lot of data stored with woo commerce so in the best case I am hoping to setup a virtual server on a subdomain that is specific to that individual so if they mess something up or don’t backup their data or what have you or customer data is leaked it is their responsibility for not keeping their server secure or doing updates etc… I mean there would have to be a contractual agreement of course as well. But that only goes so far so I’d like to insulate myself from potential damages due to their potential ignorance. I’d love to say with certainty it could all be handled contractually but I’m not a legal scholar I don’t know the proper verbiage nor the past cases and litigation on this topic and how it should be handled best. I can only think isolation with a subdomain and a separate server they would pay for with a link from their main site would be the most appropriate then they can be responsible for all of those things as they should I could simply give them wordpress administrative access and they would be 100% responsible for the integrity of that data and server and so forth I would just setup and install woocommerce to that server and word press and they could take the reigns from there.
It would be one thing if there was a way of doing checkout implicitly as a guest where the woo commerce plugin didn’t collect data other than to generate an email with the user and shipment data and order and details in which case no customer data was stored on my server.
Maybe someone who already does this has some info on this from a liability standpoint. Maybe it is best to go with an offsite host all together and just use them and the subdomain for optimal insulation.
There are alot of theses out there (on the internet) and copy paste alot of there info relevent to your service that put’s the responsibility on your customer.
Personal I’ve had no issue’s with customers using woocommerce.
Make sure you run wordfence on any wordpress installs and make sure auto update is enabled on wordfence.
Part of not having liability is also showing that you have done a fair job of preventing security issues, you cannot just say here is a website I have setup for you but I have not bothered with any security. You don’t necessarily need to monitor every file for hash changes .
Make sure you setup a suitable Service agreement outlining what is covered and what is not. There must be a meeting of minds.
One for your legal team to get involved in. (if you have one)
This is a very big issue, especially if you are a global company.
One of the most important things is that you are dealing with muliple jurisdictions. Governments, and they are all placing constraints on internet use, etc - not just privacy, data security/use. Don’t ever make the mistake that what is OK in your country (or the location/use of your VM) is also OK in that other country, just because it is currently deemed OK in yours.
So much is open to changes in policy (flavour of government) public attitude these days, it is a wonder the internet even exists.
Your company will need big pockets to pay for it’s defense lawyers.
Start with your T&C of use and Privacy Policy (which you already have and are updated/reviewed on a regular (procedural = SOP) basis.
generally passing the buck upwards to those of others who have bigger pockets.
Thanks, guys I do have a pretty rock solid contract called the dollar liability policy that must be signed it is mostly for local businesses but essentially it specifically removes me from any costs liabilities other than a dollar maximum. It pretty much gets the person and the business to assume all responsibilities. That way if they intend to setup a scam website where they rip a whole tone of people off and then shut their business down they the person can be held liable got took by a couple of contractors over the years.
Yes I have a legal team and insurance the whole boat but ehhh well I’d still like to limit my exposure as best as I can so just looking for some insight. As to what you folks do from a legal standpoint.
Opinions matter.
Thanks for all of you that have shared!
One approach that could help mitigate your responsibility is by setting up clear, comprehensive terms of service and privacy policies. Make it clear in those documents that customers are responsible for their own data management if they choose to operate on their own virtual server or subdomain. You might also consider implementing contractual agreements where customers explicitly agree to take on liability for any data breaches or issues that arise from their use of WooCommerce on the subdomain.
Additionally, tools like searchseo.io can be useful for monitoring and managing how data is handled and tracked on these sites, ensuring that both you and your customers have visibility over what’s happening.
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