Terms of Use for Confluence: Obtaining and documenting users’ consent to comply with the GDPR

Now that the GDPR is in force, terms of use and explicit consent requests have been given a new lease on life in the internet. Because of these new legal requirements, many companies have an extended obligation to disclose how they use information and document consent from users, partners, suppliers and more.

Terms of Use is the solution to make sure all users in your Confluence system have seen and given their consent to your terms: Without consent, they can't log in.

Terms of Use for Confluence version 1.7 is now available in the Atlassian marketplace. Here is what has been added and improved in this new version:

Clearly documented consent

Administrators can now see an individual user's status - whether they have consented to the current terms of use, not yet given their consent, or whether they have revoked their consent.

Companies now have clear documentation of a user's consent: You can see if a specific Confluence intranet or extranet user has agreed to your updated privacy policy. The list that the administrators can see shows this, including the time of their agreement.

Because of the granular visibility, you can take appropriate actions. Perhaps it would make sense to contact individual users directly and see if they need further information. Or if there are many users who have not agreed to your terms, it suggests there may be a fundamental problem with the way they have been written.

Version history for your terms and consent

In previous versions, Terms of Use for Confluence has overwritten all user agreements if the terms were changed and new user agreements were required - starting with a clean slate.

However, the GDPR requires that historical records of consent be kept: The Terms of Use app now has a version history of both the terms and a record of consent for each version.  Administrators can now view the contents of the earlier terms and also the corresponding consent or non-consent of users. The Terms of Use documentation is now complete and traceable.

Clear warning if a user revokes their consent

When a user revokes their consent, when they had previously agreed to the terms, they are automatically logged out and an administrator is sent a notification by email (if this is configured).

To prevent users from mistakenly revoking their consent, they will see a warning asking them to confirm they really do want to revoke their consent. That makes sure that if a user didn't actually mean to click on the Revoke button, they aren't immediately logged out of the system.

API for Linchpin Mobile

If you are using Linchpin Mobile with Confluence or with a Confluence-based intranet like Linchpin, should also read and consent to your terms of use. The Terms of Use development have implemented the backend API so that the Linchpin Mobile team can now integrate this into the mobile app.

See Terms of Use for Confluence in action

You would like to see how Terms of Use for Confluence works in practice? In our recent webinar about the GDPR, data protection and Confluence, we demonstrate the new version of Terms of Use in detail, directly in a live system. We also discuss the legal requirements and concrete application scenarios in both intranet and extranet environments. Here's the recording:

Test Terms of Use in your Confluence instance today

Would you like to try out Terms of Use for Confluence yourself, no obligations? The most recent version of Terms of Use  is available and ready to install from the Atlassian Marketplace. Or perhaps you have questions or feedback for us? Get in contact with us - Our development team is ready to help!

By the way, Terms of Use is a modular component of our Confluence-based social intranet suite Linchpin.

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Further information

Terms of Use - features, use cases, license costs and more
Your corporate extranet: Collaborating with customers, partners and suppliers
GDPR: How we seek and obtain consent at //SEIBERT/MEDIA
Space Privacy: Even more security and flexibility when working with external partners in Confluence