DPA Consent - Is this above board?

Hi.

I work as a developer at a charity and have been asked to update our communications statement for all forms on our website.

Our previous statement basically asked the user that if they were happy for us to contact them, they should tick a box (which was presented to them in an un-ticked state). Nice and simple although probably inadequate by today's standards.

The new version has four options that are split in to two sections. The first section says 'I am happy to be contacted by... SMS and Email', with appropriate tick boxes. Acceptance is denoted by ticking the box.

The second section (sitting within the same block of text as the first) says 'Please don't contact me by... Phone and Post', with a further two tick boxes. But this time due to the way the question is asked, acceptance is denoted by leaving the tick boxes un-ticked.

So if a user wants full communications with us, two boxes should be ticked and two left blank, if they want no contact then the opposite needs to happen.

From a UX perspective this isn't in anyway clear and considering the bad press that the charity sector has received lately, I don't think it does anything to reintroduce trust. But hey, I'm just the developer and can only do what I'm told.

However from a personal perspective, I'm interested if this is actually a legitimate way of gaining consent? Would a body such as the ICO find this acceptable?

Any experience would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

I can't see anything wrong with what you are proposing.