Do other agencies using SPARKLE have this problem in their country?

[FlaminFig]

Yes Frank I totally agree!
Sparkle is the tool allowing us to create modern, functional and compliant websites. When it comes to our business practices and how we go about using Users’ information… well that is up to us and a totally a different matter!

In the end it takes two to tango. If Users don’t like the over the top approach then they don’t have to partake of it. Maybe Quebec should also educate their citizens of their high and mighty moral grounds they have taken with the rest of the world! What are the chances of a Quebec citizen interacting with a Falkland Islands business who has no idea of what is going on in Quebec!?..

[duncan]

It seems this is already way overblown, but I’d stress that it doesn’t apply broadly.

“Consent Mode 2” is a Google thing, and while complying with privacy regulation is essential, this complexity is only for who needs to add advanced (and questionable from a point of view of privacy) analytics and marketing intelligence.

I’ll also add that for Sparkle itself we have never found google analytics, google ads, Facebook ads or instagram ads to be effective or even useful. It’s a market for companies in another league, with complexity tailored for the coca colas of the world.

I’d strongly suggest that for most people and the vast majority of websites on the web, all this stuff is not useful.

Consent Mode 2 is not required to add a YouTube video in your page. Sparkle’s privacy infrastructure is enough. (And I’m still not a lawyer)

[PPEmail]

Exactly @FlaminFig. A law in Quebec matters little to persons in distal places, Falkland Island or other wheres. It becomes important ONLY IF someone remote collects/uses/distributes a Quebecer’s personal information (and who does this except Big Tech?).

Quebec’s Law 25 is little different from any other privacy-focused legislation around the world–they matter to others only to the extent a company services person’s in the area covered by the legislation.

Quebec Law 25 does challenge a Quebec businessman like @Frenchie, since he provides services for Quebecers apparently using a system that collects personal information. The law requires him to assess the value of obtaining such personal information. If personal information is important enough to collect, then the law requires that the collection be disclosed, justified, and protected. I wonder, however, how important it really is to his web design clients.

OK, no more ‘covert’ collection of personally identifiable information and, if collected, take steps to protect it from misuse. Now, any enterprise dealing with Quebec residents must accept responsibility for the personal data collected. This is a bad thing? And the effectiveness of such legislation is a whole different issue.

[PPEmail]

Absolutely @duncan

To add some clarity, I hope:

It seems to me that he/we have a couple questions to ask and answer.

1. What is the definition of personal information?

–“Personal information is any information which relates to a natural person and directly or indirectly allows that person to be identified” (Law 25, #2).

2. Does my website collect such personal information from Quebecers?

–Even more fundamental, Does your website even seek customers in Quebec?

–If your website doesn’t obtain a Quebecer’s personal information, then go on your way and ignore Quebec Law 25. And we should take the same tack for persons living in EU, if we do not collect their personal information.

3. Out of the billions of persons in the world, what is the likelihood that a Quebecer would a) visit your site and b) submit information that identifies her/him?

–Most likely, it is a very small probability if one is outside Quebec.

–If one does encounter a potential customer from Quebec (or EU or where ever with stronger than USA’s privacy rules), you have a decision: comply with the local rule or reject the customer.

–Sure, it is easiest to simply not ask the location (your host collects this regardless) and thus not care. Don’t collect personal information then and, likely the core issue here, don’t allow such data to pass through your site to some other organisation be it Google, Facebook, GoDaddy, or …

4. This all leads to the big question: Why would any enterprise outside of Quebec need information that identifies a “natural person” in Quebec (or any other place outside one’s local jurisdiction)?

–Most likely, only Big Tech companies want such information and merely to pad their billions in advertising revenue. A local enterprise gains nothing by covertly identifying someone.

Now, if you do a) provide services to Quebecers and b) collect “personal information”, Law 25 makes you behave responsibly, as all conscientious businesses likely do already. The primary tasks include

• Get consent before collecting data that can identify a person.
• Tell visitors how you use the data.
• Justify the use of such data.
• Assure such data are protected from being used otherwise.

The law includes some teeth to enforce it and adds a notification requirement for any breaches of such data.

Clearly, there is much confusion on this topic; yet, clearly too, SparkleApp provides EXCEPTIONAL ability to create websites in FULL compliance. The real issue is whether you collect data that can personally identify your visitors. If you do, announce it, protect it, and be responsible for it whether in Quebec or not.