The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) released on September 19, 2023 a finding that a Canadian charity had an inadequate process for obtaining consent from prospective donors for sharing of their information on a mail list with other groups. Here is the OPC Findings Opt-in consent required for a donor list trading program. [PDF].
In summary, the charity had an opt-out option in their mailing form if an individual wanted to opt-out of the sharing of their contact information with others. If a person did not notice the opt-out provision or did not tick the opt-out provision then the charity had presumably assumed that the person was accepting or allowing their information to be shared. The OPC said that that was inadequate. The charity should have had an opt-in provision for people to opt-in if they wish to allow the charity to provide their contact information to another group. This is a good reminder that privacy is becoming far more important.
There is privacy legislation and also Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (“CASL”) that groups should be paying attention to. The privacy expectations of regulators and the public are increasing, and charities need to adapt to this environment. There are not only purely legal considerations but also practical and reputational considerations when thinking about adding people to lists or sharing their information with other organizations.