An Act to promote the efficiency and adaptability of the Canadian economy by regulating certain activities that discourage reliance on electronic means of carrying out commercial activities, and to amend the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Act, the Competition Act, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and the Telecommunications Act — E-1.6 10
Express consent — sections 6 to 8 10 (1) A person who seeks express consent for the doing of an act described in any of sections 6 to 8 must, when requesting consent, set out clearly and simply the following information: (a) the purpose or purposes for which the consent is being sought; (b) prescribed information that identifies the person seeking consent and, if the person is seeking consent on behalf of another person, prescribed information that identifies that other person; and (c) any other prescribed information. Exception (2) Despite paragraph (1)(b), for the purposes of section 6 , if a person is seeking express consent on behalf of a person whose identity is not known, (a) the only information that is required to be provided under that paragraph is prescribed information that identifies the person seeking consent; and (b) the person seeking consent must comply with the regulations in respect of the use that may be made of the consent and the conditions on which the consent may be used. Additional requirement — section 8 (3) A person who seeks express consent for the doing of any act described in section 8 must, when requesting consent, also, in addition to setting out any other prescribed information, clearly and simply describe, in general terms, the function and purpose of the computer program that is to be installed if the consent is given. Additional requirements associated with certain functions (4) In addition to the requirements set out in subsections (1) and (3), if the computer program that is to be installed performs one or more of the functions described in subsection (5), the person who seeks express consent must, when requesting consent, clearly and prominently, and separately and apart from the licence agreement, (a) describe the program’s material elements that perform the function or functions, including the nature and purpose of those elements and their reasonably foreseeable impact on the operation of the computer system; and (b) bring those elements to the attention of the person from whom consent is being sought in the prescribed manner. Description of functions (5) A function referred to in subsection (4) is any of the following functions that the person who seeks express consent knows and intends will cause the computer system to operate in a manner that is contrary to the reasonable expectations of the owner or an authorized user of the computer system: (a) collecting personal information stored on the computer system; (b) interfering with the owner’s or an authorized user’s control of the computer system; (c) changing or interfering with settings, preferences or commands already installed or stored on the computer system without the knowledge of the owner or an authorized user of the computer system; (d) changing or interfering with data that is stored on the computer system in a manner that obstructs, interrupts or interferes with lawful access to or use of that data by the owner or an authorized user of the computer system; (e) causing the computer system to communicate with another computer system, or other device, without the authorization of the owner or an authorized user of the computer system; (f) installing a computer program that may be activated by a third party without the knowledge of the owner or an authorized user of the computer system; and (g) performing any other function specified in the regulations. Exception (6) Subsection (4) does not apply in respect of a computer program that performs a function described in subsection (5) if that function only collects, uses or communicates transmission data or performs an operation specified in the regulations. Updates and upgrades (7) Subsections (1) and (3) do not apply in respect of the installation of an update or upgrade to a computer program the installation or use of which was expressly consented to in accordance with subsections (1) and (3) if the person who gave the consent is entitled to receive the update or upgrade under th