The results of research on the demands placed upon Canadians for personal information during retail transactions were recently reported to the Canada Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada). These data will help the OPC to evaluate the need for public education and outreach campaigns to inform Canadians about the appropriate application of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) in retail transactions. It will also inform OPC's policy, research and analysis activities, and indicate if further guidance and interpretive materials are necessary for retailers and their associations, and consumers to ensure optimal protection.
Questionnaires were placed on the Canadian Ipsos-Reid Express (CIRE) telephone omnibus. This source was used to provide a nationally representative sample of approximately 1000 adult Canadians.
A total of 52% of the respondents resisted requests from retailers for personal information (e.g., name, phone number, or postal code) by asking why this information was needed, while 45% refused to provide it altogether. Providing false information was less frequent: 13% admitted to having provided a store/social network/newspaper with incorrect information in person, while 11% had done so online.
Safety or security concerns were the main reasons for the refusal to give information or providing false details. This includes a general sense of distrust regarding what will be done with the information (20%), concern about identity theft, fraud, computer hackers (10%), and general security/safety issues (6%). Among other reasons are: this information is considered to be personal/private/none of their business (28%), is unnecessary (24%), and to avoid being contacted by telemarketers, sent junk mail, or asked to buy something (16%).
Many respondents felt that retailers use this information for their own marketing purposes, either to compile statistics or demographic information on their customers (34%), to create their own mailing or phone lists (19%), for targeted marketing purposes/to increase sales (16%), for advertising (11%), or to conduct marketing research (4%). About 30% believed that such information is sold to telemarketers or other companies to be used for marketing purposes.
About 30% of the respondents had signed up for loyalty cards in the past. Most of them gave name (95%), postal code (90%), and address (89%), while fewer gave date of birth (48%) and e-mail address (38%). Relatively few (13%) gave their annual salary as part of this process.
This research pinpointing the public's concern about giving private information to retailers will be useful for designing appropriate educational and protective measures both among consumers and retailers.
Related links:
Canada Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC)
