Privacy Commissioner's finding on Canada Post's National Change of Address service - February 25, 2002
The Privacy Commissioner investigated a complaint regarding Canada Post's National Change of Address (NCOA) service. The service allowed individuals to redirect mail and, with an opt-out clause in fine print, permitted Canada Post to supply new addresses to "mailers" for a fee. The Commissioner found that Canada Post failed to clearly inform customers that their personal information was being sold to organizations like list brokers and direct marketers, and that the consent obtained was not meaningful. Canada Post refused to implement a recommendation for an opt-in checkbox for this disclosure. The Commissioner concluded that Canada Post was in contravention of sections 5(2) and 8 of the Privacy Act for failing to plainly identify the purpose of collection and for disclosing personal information without proper consent.
- 1Whether Canada Post adequately informed individuals about the purpose of collecting their new address information for the NCOA service, specifically regarding disclosure to "mailers" for commercial purposes under s.5(2) of the Privacy Act
- 2Whether Canada Post obtained valid consent for the disclosure of new addresses to mass mailers and direct marketers under s.8 of the Privacy Act
- 3Whether the "opt-out" mechanism used by Canada Post constituted meaningful consent
- 4Whether the safeguard of only providing new addresses to mailers who already had the customer's name and old address adequately addressed consent concerns
- Purpose of collection: Canada Post contravened s.5(2) by failing to plainly identify purpose
- Meaningful consent: Canada Post contravened s.8 by disclosing without proper consent
- Recommendation implementation: Canada Post refused to implement opt-in recommendation
Complaint well-founded — Canada Post found in contravention of Privacy Act
The Commissioner found that Canada Post did not plainly and fully identify the purpose of collecting new addresses, particularly the commercial disclosure to 'mailers', and did not obtain valid consent for this disclosure, as a reasonable person would not understand the NCOA form to imply such consent.
The Commissioner recommended that Canada Post clearly indicate in its literature and NCOA form that selling an individual's new address to organizations like list brokers and direct marketers is a feature of the service, and add a check-off box on the NCOA form for individuals to consent to the sale of their personal information.
- s.5(2) Privacy Act
- s.8 Privacy Act
This summary is informational only and not legal advice.
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