Transparent consent choices on the signature form
You are the controller of your signatories' personal data, so you define what it will be used for. Every purpose is asked as its own checkbox on the signature form, in the order you choose. Signatories decide for each one separately, and nothing is bundled.
The four standard purposes
Under Data purposes in the signature form builder you switch on the ones your petition needs:
- Publicly display name, city, country, and comment. The signatory sees: "I agree my name, city, country and comment may be shown publicly on this petition."
- Hand the information over to the decision-makers. You can name up to three parties, and the consent question then names them instead of speaking of decision-makers in general.
- Email signatories about the petition's progress. The signatory sees: "Send me updates about this petition by email."
- Verify the identity of the signatory by phone. Offered when the form asks for a phone number.
Purposes of your own
Press Add your own purpose and write it in your own words. You get three. Describe what the personal data will be used for, not the goal of the petition: this sentence is what signatories are asked to agree to. For example, a residents' association might add "to invite me to the residents' meeting about this plan". Each purpose you add becomes its own checkbox on the form.
How to set them up
- On the create page, go to the step Signatories.
- Under Data purposes, switch on the purposes you need.
- If you switch on the hand-over purpose, fill in the parties under Decision-makers the signatures are handed over to. One field is enough if there is one recipient.
- Press Add your own purpose for anything that is missing.
- Drag the questions by their handle to put them in the order you prefer.
- Check the wording in the Sign this petition preview.
The form opens with one sentence above the checkboxes: "I agree that the petition author may use the information I provide on this form for the purposes I select below."
Why separate checkboxes matter
Someone may be glad to sign publicly but not want their address handed to a ministry. Someone else wants the updates but not their name on the page. One combined "I agree" cannot tell those people apart, and a consent that was never a real choice is worth little if anyone asks you to prove it.
Separate checkboxes also protect you. When you download the signatures you can pick a purpose, and the file then contains only the signatories who agreed to it. Your use of the list stays inside what the people on it actually accepted.
Good to know
- Consent is a tick, not a default. Not everyone remembers to tick, so the count for a purpose is usually lower than the signature count.
- The purposes you chose are listed automatically in the petition's privacy policy, with the named recipients.
- You can change the purposes later from Edit in the petition menu. People who already signed keep the choices they made.
- We ask only for the purposes you defined. We do not add consents of our own to your form.
Questions and answers
How many purposes of my own can I add?
Three, in addition to the standard purposes.
What happens if a signatory does not tick a purpose?
The signature still counts. You may only use that person's data for the purposes they did tick.
How do I see who agreed to what?
On the "Print the signatures" page you can choose a purpose, and the file then contains only the signatories who consented to it. You can also include a column per purpose.
Can a signatory change their mind?
Yes. Consent can be withdrawn at any time, and the petition's privacy policy says so. Signatories can manage or remove their own signature.
Do you add your own marketing consents to my form?
No. The signature form asks only for the purposes you chose.