Relocate 'Privacy / Export / Erasure' pages into more appropriate menus

[xkon]

As far as I remember we couldn't create a top level menu to host the new privacy tools because we couldn't add new files in a minor releases.

We 'took over' privacy.php though so that opens a door to make simple changes in case we could go for it from this release so we have everything grouped up.

Having the new Privacy Tools under Tools in general feels somewhat off, as people might get confused from double Export menus etc.

This patch creates a new top-level menu called Privacy ( I thought that the visibility icon would be appropriate for this ).

I currently have it as $menu[73] in the patch as I'm not sure if I could just bump everything +5 so I pushed it between Users and Tools.

This creates a more clear view of what all these new tools and screens are about.

[desrosj]

This gets a big +1 from me.

[ocean90]

This gets a big -1 from me.

we couldn't create a top level menu to host the new privacy tools because we couldn't add new files in a minor releases.

A top-level menu doesn't need it's own file.

I don't think that the new tools warrant its own top level menu. What's actually the target group for these tools? Is it really that ​80% or more of end users will actually appreciate and use them? I doubt that when you think about one-author blogs.

Isn't the setting for privacy police/notice page just a … setting? So a wp-admin/options-privacy.php would fit here which can be put right after the Settings > General item.

As everyone now knows, GDPR is about users, so why not adding the export/delete tools to the Users top-level menu?

[xkon]

Replying to ocean90:

I don't think that the new tools warrant its own top level menu. What's actually the target group for these tools? Is it really that ​80% or more of end users will actually appreciate and use them? I doubt that when you think about one-author blogs.

The target group is 'everyone' since GDPR applies everywhere and to anyone that interacts with EU citizens. That is surely above 80% in my mind as I'm not only thiking of GDPR (an all other regulations/laws that go around privacy) towards Organizations, I'm applying it to anyone that gathers data, even an 1-Author blog that has a newsletter sign up & google analytics as you mention (but hey that might just be me :) ).

--

Even with the above said though, your Menu iteration makes even more sense and thank you for the screenshot.

My main concern is having everything under 'Tools' doesn't feel right anymore, especially after using all these patches day-in day-out. And if there's a posibility to make thir right before the release it would be even better instead of moving everything in another place on next release etc.

Background story (for anyone new): We started with a UI iteration of 'Privacy Tools' that had everything in 1 page (settings / export / anonymization) so 'Tools' menu made perfect sense, but we then splitted them up each into it's own and that way Tools lost it's meaning (or at least that's how I see it).

[allendav]

My main concern is having everything under 'Tools' doesn't feel right anymore, especially after using all these patches day-in day-out.

I agree with this sentiment. The more I use this, the more I think the Privacy submenu could move under Settings (since it is about that page setting), and the Export and Erasure submenus could move under Users (since they concern user's personal data, even if users doesn't include commenters it still makes sense to me.)

[desrosj]

A consensus needs to be reached here. Adding to the 4.9.6 milestone. Wherever these items are introduced, they should be there to stay.

[allendav]

This will also influence the final name chosen for this ticket: #43894

[azaozz]

Replying to ocean90:

I don't think that the new tools warrant its own top level menu.

I agree.

Isn't the setting for privacy police/notice page just a … setting? So a wp-admin/options-privacy.php would fit here which can be put right after the Settings > General item.

Yes, seems the most appropriate place. Only it will need to be privcy.php for now, can make new file in the next major release :)

As everyone now knows, GDPR is about users, so why not adding the export/delete tools to the Users top-level menu?

Yep, also agree.

The "privacy tools" have grown beyond being only "tools", best to add them to the appropriate places in the menu.

[desrosj]

Per today's dev chat, the following decision was made:

• Move the settings page under the "Settings" menu item below "Permalinks" and call it "Privacy Notice".
• Leave the export and erase menu items under "Tools"

[xkon]

43873.diff​ moves the Privacy under Settings -> Privacy Notice as said in comment:19

[azaozz]

Replying to desrosj:

...and call it "Privacy Notice".

Can somebody explain what a "privacy notice" means in plain English? I can't find any references to that term except in legal documents. I believe couple of months ago we agreed we should avoid any legalese jargon as much as possible :)

Also that seems to be predominantly used in British English, the default language in WP is en_US.

Please keep in mind that this string will have to be translated in couple of hundred languages, most of them non European. Using uncommon terms will make that harder.

And finally, having a Privacy Notice menu item and then talking about Privacy Policy is inconsistent.

[xkon]

43873.2.diff​ just moves the Privacy menu under Settings.

The reason behind this:

• There will be more settings added in the future probably as we proceed on a v2 after this release so a more general name without 'Policy' or anything binding is better. If we also take under consideration the chat that was made at some point for a privacy team that will handle more regulations/laws in the future other than just GDPR it even makes it more globally scoped to be used for other types of privacy settings that will surely surface.

In general whatever is considered as a privacy setting can easily live under here without going in the trouble of 'renaming' the page in the future and bringing confusion to the users.

[Presskopp]

+1 for moving 'Privacy' under Settings

[iandunn]

In 43145:

Privacy: Move privacy policy page to Settings menu for consistency.

The page was originally placed under Tools so that it would be grouped with the pages to export and erase personal data, since they're all part of the effort to bring privacy management tools to Core ahead of GDPR's deadline. After more consideration, though, it makes sense to move this page to the Settings menu, since it's fundamental purpose is to configure an option, rather than to facilitate a recurring task. This keeps all of the configuration pages in a single place, making them consistent and easier to find.

Exporting and erasing personal data are recurring tasks, so they still make sense under the Tools menu.

Props xkon, helen, melchoyce, allendav, desrosj, ocean90, azaozz.
Fixes #43873.

[iandunn]

Reopening for backport to 4.9.

[azaozz]

In 43152:

Privacy: Move privacy policy page to Settings menu for consistency.

The page was originally placed under Tools so that it would be grouped with the pages to export and erase personal data, since they're all part of the effort to bring privacy management tools to Core ahead of GDPR's deadline. After more consideration, though, it makes sense to move this page to the Settings menu, since it's fundamental purpose is to configure an option, rather than to facilitate a recurring task. This keeps all of the configuration pages in a single place, making them consistent and easier to find.

Exporting and erasing personal data are recurring tasks, so they still make sense under the Tools menu.

Props xkon, helen, melchoyce, allendav, desrosj, ocean90, azaozz.
Merges [43145] to the 4.9 branch.
Fixes #43873.

[desrosj]

Moving to the new Privacy component.