Curated resource guide
WordPress Privacy and Data Protection
Translate privacy obligations into concrete WordPress engineering decisions without treating a plugin as a complete compliance strategy. These references cover data mapping, cookies, consent, analytics, forms, logs, retention, exports and erasure, WooCommerce, telemetry, third parties, backups, staging data, minimization, documentation, and secure handling.
Scope
What this guide covers
- WordPress privacy tools
- personal-data exporters and erasers
- privacy-policy helpers
- data mapping
- user and customer data
- plugin/theme privacy integration
- cookies and local storage
- analytics
- forms
- logs
- IP addresses
- retention
- consent architecture
- third-party APIs
- backups
- data deletion
- access requests
- WooCommerce data
- telemetry
- external processors
- security of personal data
- staging copies
- minimization
- documentation
- and engineering patterns that support legal/privacy obligations without providing jurisdiction-specific legal advice
Selected references
Curated resources
Links open the original publisher so you can use the complete, current material in context.
- 01Recommended starting point
WordPress Plugin Privacy Handbook
The official starting point for privacy-aware plugin design, disclosures, exports, erasure, and site-owner controls.
developer.wordpress.org - 02
Adding a Personal Data Exporter
Connect plugin-held personal data to the WordPress export workflow in manageable, resumable batches.
developer.wordpress.org - 03
Adding a Personal Data Eraser
Implement erasure or anonymization callbacks while reporting retained data and incomplete work clearly.
developer.wordpress.org - 04
Privacy Options, Hooks, and Capabilities
Use the platform hooks and permissions around privacy pages, requests, confirmations, exports, and erasure.
developer.wordpress.org - 05
Suggesting Privacy Policy Text
Provide site owners with specific disclosure text when a plugin collects, sends, or retains personal data.
developer.wordpress.org - 06
MDN HTTP Cookies Guide
A precise browser-level reference for cookie scope, lifetime, security attributes, and privacy implications.
developer.mozilla.org - 07
NIST Privacy Framework
A risk-based framework for identifying, governing, controlling, communicating, and protecting privacy across a product.
nist.gov - 08
Export Personal Data Screen
Understand the administrative request and fulfillment flow around WordPress personal-data exports.
wordpress.org - 09
Erase Personal Data Screen
Understand how erasure requests are confirmed, processed, recorded, and communicated to administrators.
wordpress.org - 10
Personal Data Exporter Filter
Register plugin-owned personal data with the core asynchronous export process.
developer.wordpress.org - 11
Personal Data Eraser Filter
Remove or anonymize plugin data through the supported erasure callback contract.
developer.wordpress.org - 12
OWASP Logging Cheat Sheet
Balance operational evidence with minimization, access controls, retention, and protection of sensitive log data.
cheatsheetseries.owasp.org