PREPARING ON-LINE PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTION (PIC) STATEMENTS AND PRIVACY POLICY STATEMENTS (PPS)

WHAT GOES INTO A PIC STATEMENT?

PURPOSE STATEMENT: This is a statement of the purposes for which the information will be used following collection. For example:

"The information collected from you will be used for the purpose of processing your purchase orders and managing your account with us." Or,

"The information about you collected by means of this form will be used only for compiling aggregate statistics about individuals registering with us."

TIP: If your website has more than one on-line form, make sure the purpose statement used for each form fits the particular collection of personal data concerned.

STATEMENT OF POSSIBLE TRANSFEREES: This should state the types of organisations to whom personally identifiable information collected from the individual may be disclosed.

If you do not disclose personally identifiable information to any other party, it would be a good idea to mention this as it is likely to be favourably regarded by visitors to your website. For example:

"Information we collect about you will not be disclosed by us to any other party in a form that would identify you."

If you post personally identifiable information on your website, this is a form of disclosure. Indeed, if no restrictions are placed on access to the relevant part of your website, such information could in theory be disclosed to any user of the Internet. Accordingly, such a practice should be made clear in the relevant PIC Statement.