Privacy regulations might have tightened their grip, but that hasn’t stopped data processing. You can collect and process personal data in adherence to privacy laws. That is not all, statistics reveal that 51% of consumers are willing to share their information with organizations in exchange for personal benefits such as discounts. This gives rise to new opportunities in business if used in a compliant way. Obtaining and managing consumer consent is one way to utilize this opportunity effectively. Discover the possibilities of consent management with this detailed blog.
What is consent management?
Cut to the chase, consent management is a framework for collecting, recording, and managing individual consent for the use, sharing, and retention of personal data.
In this hyperconnected world, we rely on websites and other online platforms to connect with people or market products. Most privacy laws consider consent as a lawful basis for processing personal data. This makes consent management more important than ever.
Since privacy laws mostly rely on consent for processing consumer data, real-time consent management is crucial. To achieve this, you would have to provide information, obtain explicit consent, save and document consent choices, etc. For websites or mobile apps, this means but is not limited to:
- Blocking third-party cookies before obtaining consent
- Providing cookie banners/pop-ups
- Obtaining granular consent
- Recording cookie consent preferences
Why is consent management important?
Consent management is important for several reasons including the ones given below.
- Legal compliance
Violating consent requirements set by data protection laws can lead to hefty fines and reputational risks. By implementing a proper consent management system, you can overcome this challenge. - User trust
Having a robust consent management process demonstrates transparency and user control. This builds trust with your customers as they will most likely engage with brands that respect their privacy. - Risk mitigation
Proper consent management streamlines personal data use and protects your organization against data breaches and other associated risks. - Competitive advantage
Customers are more conscious of their personal data use in this privacy-driven world than ever. As a result, privacy-conscious companies tend to have an advantage over their competitors.
Consent under different laws
Ever since privacy laws have overtaken the commercial use of personal information, obtaining user consent has played an integral part in the data privacy realm. For example, consent is one of the six lawful bases of processing under GDPR, the others being a contract, legitimate interest, vital interest, public task, and legal obligation. This directly hands over the authority over one’s personal data to oneself.
Consent is defined almost similarly in most privacy laws. Here are a few examples.
GDPR
According to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), consent is an affirmative action that is a freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous indication of the data subject’s agreement to personal data processing.
Whether to give consent should be a consumer’s real choice. It should neither be an influenced decision nor be coerced. This applies to newsletters, marketing campaigns, cookie usage, etc.
CCPA
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) defines consent in a very similar way to GDPR. It specifically restrains businesses from using dark patterns to obtain consent. See the below image for reference.
Though most US privacy laws including CCPA follow an opt-out model, where you collect personal data first and then consumers opt out of it, sensitive data processing requires consent.
LGPD
Brazil’s data privacy regulation – Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais (LGPD) defines consent as a free, informed, and unequivocal expression of an individual’s willingness to process their personal data.
Quebec law 25
Consent under the Canadian privacy law must be clear, specific, free, and informed. The law also considers consent as valid only till the time required to fulfill the purpose for which it was given.
The consent request under Quebec law must be made separately instead of bundling it with other terms and conditions.
What are the different types of consent?
The consent requirements in the European Union differ from those in the US. In fact, there exist various types of consent. Here is a detailed analysis of its types.
Explicit consent
The EU consent requirements mostly revolve around obtaining explicit user consent for data collection. This extends to cookie consent as well. Data privacy regulations like GDPR and the ePrivacy directive call for explicit consent in the form of signing documents, unchecked boxes, and not using dark patterns or inaction as a form of consent. We can say that explicit consent is the golden standard for GDPR-compliant consent collection.
Implied consent
Implied consent is the least recommended form of consent for data collection. It is inferred and indirect. For example- hovering over or closing the consent requests/cookie banners, and scrolling through the pages without giving explicit consent. The most familiar example might be websites deploying cookies on user devices without getting users’ consent. However, with the incoming of privacy laws, cookie consent is more than a simple “I agree” or continuous scroll.
Opt-in consent
This is similar to explicit consent and is preferred by rigid laws such as Europe’s GDPR. Opt-in consent is the affirmative action taken by an individual to signify their agreement to allow a business to process their personal data.
The consent so obtained must confirm with the standards set by the laws. This means it must be the free choice of an individual without being coerced. Ensure that they are properly informed of why and how their data is handled by your organization. Give your customers specific consent choices for each purpose rather than obtaining it as a bundle.
Opt-out consent
US data privacy laws mostly rely on opt-out consent in which businesses can presume consent for collecting consumer data unless they explicitly object to it. Laws like the CCPA allow consumers to opt out of targeted advertising and sale of personal data. The specific requirement for giving a “ Do not sell my personal information” link on your website is an example.
Europeans have a different opinion of this form of consent collection and consider it less strict when compared to GDPR.
What is a consent management platform and why do you need it?
Let’s all agree that we love our businesses to grow and thrive. Lately, this has become nearly impossible without being concerned about user privacy. Truth be told, that was the way to begin with. The good news is that we have it now and 79% of businesses already think positively about privacy laws. What about you?
The truth is even if you are a small business, you’d have to comply with privacy laws. For example, if your website caters to Europeans, you must ensure GDPR cookie compliance. Now imagine a business that has consumers from both the US and the EU. A consent management platform (CMP) can help you in all these circumstances.
A consent management platform helps you in the following ways:
Cookie scanning
Identifying cookies on your website manually can be tiresome. CMPs automatically scan websites for cookies and other tracking technologies.
Consent banners
You must provide a cookie banner/cookie pop-up to your website visitors to inform them about cookie usage. EU laws like the ePrivacy directive and cookie guidelines issued by Data Protection Authorities set forth standards for the use of cookies on websites and applications. CMPs fulfill these requirements without having you to deal with any coding.
Granular consent
CMPs allow users to give consent for each category of cookies separately, as required by privacy laws such as GDPR, LGPD, and CCPA.
Record user consent
Most laws require you to document consent preferences as proof of compliance. A consent management platform easily gets this task done for you.
Geo-targeting
As more laws emerge, multi-regional businesses must meet standards set by multiple laws. Data protection laws in Virginia or Colorado may not have the same consent requirements as in Germany or other European countries.
With the help of a consent management platform, you can display custom cookie banners based on the user’s location. This takes your compliance strategy to the next level without investing much effort.
Global opt-out/universal opt-out
If your business caters to US consumers, you should implement a mechanism to recognize universal opt-out signals. The best and most convenient way to fulfill this requirement is to use a consent management platform.
CookieYes can help you
When it comes to business, you should not compromise. That is why you must choose the best consent management solution. CookieYes, the top-rated consent management platform on G2 is your A-game for achieving cookie consent.
We are IAB TCF compliant and a certified Google CMP partner to suit your compliance needs. CookieYes is designed to meet global privacy standards with zero compromise.
Check out our advanced capabilities :
Customizable banners
CookieYes enables you to provide a custom banner that matches your website’s color scheme and overall design. We also provide 40+ languages with in-built auto-translation and support around 175 languages catering to your regional requirements.
Geo-targeting
We support geo-targeting and therefore display cookie banners based on the visitors’ geo-location.
Global opt-out signals
Our tool supports universal opt-out signals and maximizes the consent management process by respecting user preferences.
Granular cookie Control
Using the CookieYes cookie banner, you can collect granular consent from users for different cookie categories such as analytical cookies, advertising cookies, etc.
Consent log
Remember how documenting cookie consent is important to prove compliance? CookieYes records user consent in a downloadable format and includes the date, time, country, consent ID, etc.
Automated cookie scans
CookieYes’s advanced features scan your website for cookies and their categories. We make it even simpler by letting you schedule automated scans.
Auto-block third-party cookies
Our smart tool automatically blocks third-party cookies until the user gives consent and saves you from non-compliance fines.
Easy integration
We strive to give the best user experience for our customers. To meet this goal, our tools including the cookie consent solution, and policy generators are user-friendly, easy to integrate, and have a dedicated documentation and support team to help you.
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FAQ on consent management
A Consent Management Platform is necessary for achieving compliance in this privacy-focused world. As the laws become stringent, it is difficult to comply with all the requirements manually. CMPs help you with consent collection, preference management, proof of compliance, recognizing opt-out signals, language customization, and more.
Consent management mostly deals with the process of obtaining and managing consent, record-keeping, providing consent banners, etc. Whereas, preference management is a part of enhancing user experience such as the mode for presenting information. A simple example would be selecting the topics for which you want to receive notifications when a new blog is published.
