TLDR:
The process of getting permission before collecting or processing personal data, ensuring individuals understand what they are agreeing to.
What is Informed Consent?
Informed consent requires that an individual must be clearly informed about the nature, purpose, risks, and consequences of data processing before agreeing to it. The consent must be voluntary, specific, and based on full understanding.
Key Elements of Valid Consent
Under GDPR Article 7 and similar frameworks, valid consent requires four elements: it must be freely given (not bundled with service access where alternatives exist), specific (separate consent for distinct processing purposes), informed (the user must know what they are consenting to), and unambiguous (a clear affirmative action — pre-ticked boxes are invalid). The controller bears the burden of demonstrating that consent was obtained correctly.
Beyond Data Protection
The informed consent doctrine extends beyond data law. In clinical research, informed consent is a regulatory pillar requiring full disclosure of risks, benefits, alternatives, and the right to withdraw. In commercial settings, courts increasingly apply informed consent principles to evaluate dark-pattern interfaces, manipulative onboarding flows, and pre-checked subscription opt-ins.
Withdrawing Consent
Individuals must be able to withdraw consent as easily as they gave it. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of prior processing but obligates the controller to stop further processing absent another legal basis.
References
- Turkish Law No. 6698 on the Protection of Personal Data (KVKK)
- Personal Data Protection Authority of Türkiye
- EU GDPR (Regulation 2016/679) — EUR-Lex
- U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
Information first, then consent
Informed consent captures the idea that consent is only meaningful if the person understood what they were agreeing to before they agreed. In data-protection terms that means, before consent is sought, the individual must be told in clear language who is processing their data, for what purposes, on what basis, with whom it is shared, how long it is kept, and how they can withdraw. Consent obtained without that disclosure — buried in dense terms, or assumed from silence — is not valid. Informed consent is closely related to, but narrower than, the KVKK’s “explicit consent”: the information requirement is the precondition, and the free, specific declaration is the consent itself. Documenting exactly what was disclosed is what lets a controller later prove the consent was informed.