A bedding products company mandated online shoppers to consent to the use of personal data for direct marketing purposes
Background
When the complainant visited the online shop of a bedding products company (“the Company”), he noted on the checkout page that customers were required to check the box designed for indicating consent to the use of their personal data in direct marketing in accordance with the Company’s privacy policy, or else the payments would not go through to complete the purchases. The complainant hence lodged a complaint with the PCPD.
Outcome
The Company explained to the PCPD that even if customers checked the designated box, it would not be deemed to have consented to direct marketing. With the PCPD’s advice, the Company had revised the checkout page of the website so that customers were provided with an option to choose whether to check the box for providing consent to the use of their personal data for direct marketing purposes.
Lesson learnt
Irrespective of whether or not the direct marketing activities of the data user are directly related to the original purpose of collection of the customer’s personal data (namely for a primary service of the data user which the data user provides to the customer), the customer should be free to decide whether to give the data user his consent to use his personal data for the purpose of direct marketing. If a data user collects personal data from customers through a service application form which is designed in such a way that renders it impracticable for its customers to refuse the use of their personal data for direct marketing purposes (i.e. under a “bundled consent” situation), such collection of personal data may be deemed an unfair collection of personal data.
(Uploaded in February 2025)