Thanks for the question @dutchintouch!
Subscriptions
When someone uses the Jetpack Subscription feature to request emails of your new posts, only the details needed to carry out that request are collected. In the language of the regulation, this is a “legitimate interest” use of that data. In our view, additional opt-ins are not needed in our view and potentially confusing. That’s why there is not a built-in feature for a checkbox.
It is a good idea to offer people the chance to opt-out of legitimate interest uses of data, in case they did not understand or change their mind. Jetpack does this through the confirmation email that we send to new subscribers. A link to opt-out or ‘unsubscribe’ is included in that initial message and every subscription email thereafter that is sent on your behalf.
Furthermore, Jetpack does not use e-mail addresses collected for any other purpose, only to fulfill the individual subscription request. That information does not get shared, sold, or get added to advertising email lists without consent. Other services may not have been as careful about consent and data sharing as we are, and that is likely why your inbox is filling up with new consent requests and notices.
If you remained concerned about this, you are welcome to create a post on the site highlighting the unsubscribe links and explaining this to your subscribers. An email with that notification will automatically be sent to your subscribers just as it does with any post.
Comments
There are a few valid options to be transparent and compliant about cookies that a site uses to enable its features – like the comment form autocomplete. We chose to include information about the cookies we use, including this one, in our cookie policy here:
https://automattic.com/cookies/
If you want to alert users to the use of these kinds of cookies on your site, you can do that using the cookie and consent tools that we’ve recently added to Jetpack:
https://jetpack.com/support/extra-sidebar-widgets/eu-cookie-law-widget/
For all sites that have activated our Akismet plugin, we’re now including the option to Display a privacy notice under your comment forms. This is included for all sites with any Akismet plan that are running the most recent version of that plugin.
If you’d prefer to include one and aren’t using Akismet, I would recommend that you deactivate Jetpack’s Comment form. You can do this at Jetpack → Settings → Discussion in your dashboard. Your site will then display the default WordPress comment form again, which now includes a checkbox.
Finally, we have also added privacy information to the bottom of the support document for every Jetpack feature. You can read the details for Comments here:
https://jetpack.com/support/comments/#privacy
Contact Form
If you’d like to alert users to the use of these kinds of cookies on your site, you can do that using the cookie and consent tools that we’ve recently added to Jetpack:
https://jetpack.com/support/extra-sidebar-widgets/eu-cookie-law-widget/
The Privacy Policy Helped that we’ve added is pretty handy, so if you haven’t created one yet, you can do that using our tool:
https://jetpack.com/support/for-your-privacy-policy/
Once you’ve created your Privacy Policy, you can add a new checkbox to your form like this:
https://cld.wthms.co/5hsofk
There’s no way to add a direct link in that field yet, but we’ve opened an issue with the developers to add one. You can follow that here:
https://href.li/?https://github.com/Automattic/jetpack/issues/9623
Finally, we’ve added privacy information to the bottom of the support document for every Jetpack feature. You can read the details of the Contact Form here:
https://jetpack.com/support/contact-form/#privacy
I hope that helps!
