Consent As a Mechanism for Control Over Personal Data
Creators: name: Akinwunmi, Akinkunmi Kayode
Publisher: name: Arts
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: consent
subject: privacy
subject: data protection
subject: privacy law
subject: technology
subject: company
subject: PIPEDA
subject: Bill C-27
subject: autonomy
subject: big data
subject: trust theory
subject: social contract theory
subject: contract of adhesion
subject: contra proferentum
subject: public policy
subject: unconscionability
subject: control
subject: data collection
subject: use
subject: disclosure
subject: privacy policy
subject: privacy paradox
subject: privacy resignation
subject: privacy cynicism
subject: network effect
subject: data management
subject: information technology
subject: akinkunmi
subject: akinwunmi
subject: akin
subject: internet
subject: illusion
subject: consumer
subject: Law
subject: FOS: Law
subject: Education--Technology

description: Access to digital services often begins with scrolling to the end of a privacy policy page to click the agree button. That singular act confirms that a user consents to a privacy policy, having read and comprehended the clauses. The act of consent seems easy but soon leads to an unending pathway for companies to collect, use, and disclose personal data. Consent is easy to give but difficult to withdraw, retrieve the information collected, or have the company dispose of the information collected. Consumers know how it starts but cannot tell when and where it ends—an unending road. How can an act (of consent) that seems so harmless at first result in the surrender of consumers’ control over their data? Consent, a power not wielded by consumers, is now the bedrock and pillar of corporate businesses and revenue generation. The paragraph above encapsulates the crux of this thesis, which is the consent paradigm in law. Consent under privacy law has become important because people desire to control their personal information. Without control, there is no privacy. As rightly posited by Alan Westin, “privacy is the claim of individuals, groups, or institutions to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent information about them is communicated to others.” The control humans crave is actualized by determining the extent of their information that flows to others. In the real world, controlling the extent of personal information a neighbour, friend or colleague may possess is relatively easy. However, replicating this level of control in the virtual world is a daunting challenge. The reason is that online communication is not directly between individuals; an intermediary transmits the information. These intermediaries are the internet companies. These intermediaries not only deliver messages, but they also analyze, store the content, and even disclose communications to unknown third parties. These intermediaries require people to consent to collecting, using, and disclosing their personal information before granting access to digital services. My thesis takes a punch at the mechanism of consent in a technology-driven world. My research delves into the assumption of voluntariness when consumers consent, the challenges that confront consumers during the consent process and the unmet privacy expectations of consumers to control their data.