We have just released Events Manager 5.9.3 and Pro 2.6.3. The main aim of these releases is to integrate with the new privacy tools included in last weeks’ WordPress 4.9.6 release.
As we announced a few weeks ago, we’ve been aware of the upcoming GDPR laws for some time now, as well as the work being done on WordPress in preparation for helping site owners become compliant in time before the law comes into effect. “In time” just so happens to be tomorrow (May 25th 2018)! We appreciate that this may be overwhelming for many, and we hope that these new tools make the process a little easier.
All of this will work out of the box when you update, the main part involving some work and consideration is the privacy policy which requires you to review our suggestions and amend if necessary.
Whilst this release is very close to the deadline (although if you check your inbox, it seems the whole world is too!), we do believe it was worth waiting to integrate as much as possible with WordPress’ tools rather than implementing our own GDPR tools. The overall experience for site owners will be a lot smoother with regards to EM and WP, as you only need to look in one place when required to export and erase personal data.
We recommend you check out our settings page documentation, we will also be putting together additional information and guidelines regarding considerations you want to make whilst planning your overall privacy strategy in relation to Events Manager.
Privacy Features
Today’s release provides control over exactly what personal data from Events Manager will get exported and erased by WordPress’ Privacy Tools in our settings page. When exporting someone’s personal data, it can also include Event, Location and Booking information. Moreover, this will also include all the information gathered by Pro features including:
- payment transactions
- attendee fields
- custom booking form fields
- custom user fields
- multiple booking information
- custom event emails within the user-owned events
We’ve additionally provided an easy way to add consent checkboxes to our forms that obtain user information.
Aside from that, Events Manager also integrates with WordPress’ privacy policy generator, so you can use the sample text we provide within your policy.
That’s it for now! As more features get added and there’s further clarification about some of the GDPR ambiguities, we’ll certainly adapt and provide more options to help you create GDPR rules that fit your requirements. We wish you luck with your GDPR preparations!