With Data Privacy Day upon us, it is important to highlight the cornerstone of all privacy legislation – consent.
Consent is the cornerstone to all aspects of the collection, use and disclosure of an individual’s personal information. When a business collects consent from an individual, it has to be meaningful, that is informed and knowledgeable. This requires an individual to know and understand the purposes for the collection, use or disclosure of their personal information.
It is important to understand that, if an individual gives their personal information and consents to its use for one purpose, the business cannot use that information for other purposes that are not captured by the original consent. If the business wants to use the information for a different purpose, it has to obtain new consent. It is a challenge for businesses to develop consent purposes that are broad enough to capture multiple uses, but specific enough for the consent to be informed and knowledgeable.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has provided a short video on obtaining meaningful consent:
The Lerners privacy law team is able to assist businesses in developing appropriate consent provisions that will be informed and knowledgeable, and ensure they meet the consent requirements contained in applicable privacy legislation
