OTTAWA – More than 1,000 Canadians filed official complaints about spam during the first three days after the country’s new anti-spam law went into effect July 1, according to the regulatory body overseeing enforcement of the law.
“We have received a number of complaints, and the numbers will keep going up for sure, but really for us the positive message is Canadians are seeing the importance of the legislation and they are reporting [spam] to the [Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission] as the mechanism allows them to do,” CRTC Chief Compliance Officer Manon Bombardier told The Canadian Press. “We’re going to look at all the complaints we receive. We will be strategic in which ones we pursue for investigations, but we will review all the complaints.”
According to Bombardier, “hundreds of reports have been submitted daily” at FightSpam.gc.ca, the CRTC’s official complaint website. Although consumer response to the new law is overwhelmingly positive, businesses aren’t as enthusiastic, Bombardier noted.
“The legislation is seeking to strike a balance between the privacy of Canadians and the legitimate businesses that need to communicate with Canadians, so there are some exemptions in the rules,” she said. “People will continue to receive emails but hopefully only legitimate ones.”
Passed in 2010, the Canadian Anti-Spam Law, or CASL, is one of the strictest in the world. The legislation requires businesses and individuals to get written or oral consent before sending commercial electronic messages to any device in Canada. Implied consent based on existing business relationships may be good enough in some instances, but under the law implied consent lasts for only two years from the beginning of a business relationship.
Under CASL, commercial electronic messages include not only email, but also text messages, instant messages and even some social media interaction. All commercial messages must be clearly identified as such and provide legitimate, easy-to-find and easy-to-follow unsubscribe processes.
Canadian authorities claim to have worked out reciprocal agreements with other nations worldwide in order to effect extraterritorial prosecution of spammers worldwide. Penalties include fines of up to $10 million per violation for businesses. If the spammer is an individual, he or she faces a fine of as much as $1million per infraction.
