In a struggle to be happy and free

Drystone Wall

Open letter to John Gustavson

From: “Rick Pali” <rpali@alienshore.com>
Subject: Regarding the letter to the editor
To: <info@the-cma.org>
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:18:15 ‑0400

Mr. Gustavson,

I read your letter to the editor in the Ottawa Citizen with great interest. There are a few points you did not make clear, however. You state,

When the national list goes into effect this fall, organizations that you have chosen to do business with will still be able to call you — once.

They must also respect any request you make not to call you again pitching goods and services.

I admit that I am not a lawyer, nor am I particular versed in the intricacies of the law. At the same time however, my reading of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act seems to make no allowance for the ‘again’ you use in the quotation above.

Section 4.3.1 of the act states:

Consent is required for the collection of personal information and the subsequent use or disclosure of this information.

It seems the word ‘subsequent’ in this section refers to the use of the personal information being after its collection, which makes sense. It can’t work the other way around.

Section 4.3.8 of the act states:

An individual may withdraw consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice. The organization shall inform the individual of the implications of such withdrawal.

I read “An individual may withdraw consent at any time” as being unambiguous. If I contact a business before they contact me and withdraw permission to use my phone number, my actions clearly fall under the definition of “at any time.”

I’ve been unable to find anything in the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act corresponding to your claim. Either your letter ignored the act entirely, or you know something I don’t. If it’s the latter, could I trouble you for a citation (or citations) to help me locate this information? I’m very curious because it seems to directly contradict the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Rick.

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1 Comment

  1. Shawn

    Good on ya Rick!!!! I bet they have 70 lawyers pouring over the document looking for every loophole there is in order to be able to cal you over and over again.

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