Many countries have privacy legislation.
Specific to Canada, the enforcement of this legislation is largely through complaint mechanisms. For example, a consumer is unhappy with a company’s data protection practices and they file a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. This process heavily relies on the consumer to be educated about both privacy and the bureaucratic enforcement mechanisms available to exercise their rights. Recent industry research demonstrates that consumers may lack the contextual awareness to understand situations that may breach their privacy rights. For example, although 74% of global consumers reported that sharing of their information with third parties constitutes a privacy invasion, privacy policies often contain language to cover organizational obligations of disclosure to third parties.
Global Consumer Attitudes to Online Data Collection Practices (“Consumer Attitudes to Online Data Collection Practices,” 2013)
Privacy regulatory bodies in Canada often have an educative mandate in their founding regulations, which further suggests that informing the data subject about privacy rights and obligations is (a) a good thing and (b) requires particular effort.