What won't be under the tree this year: spam
The Canadian government’s anti-spam bill, Bill C-28, moved quickly through Parliament this fall, receiving Royal Assent on December 15th, just before Parliament rose for its holiday season break. Though not yet available at press time, the final version of the bill will be available soon at the Parliamentary Website. Industry Canada indicated, in an eMail message to interested parties, that it anticipates that the new law will come into force in six to eight months.
The additional time will allow both industry and regulators to gear up for the new regime (The CRTC, the Privacy Commissioner and the Competition Bureau are all slated to receive additional budget and personnel to administer their sections of the legislation), as well as providing the government with time to consult with the public and interested stakeholders on proposed new regulations, including the launch of a planned website dedicated to the legislation, to be known as the Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act (FISA). This week, at the very brief Senate Transportation and Communications Committee meeting convened to consider the bill, government officials indicated that they were planning a 60-day consultation period on the new regs, which have yet to be made public.
As we have detailed in previous blogposts, with some exceptions, the new law would generally prohibit the sending of commercial electronic messages without consent, as well as making significant consequential amendments to other federal legislation, including Canada’s Competition Act, Telecommunications Act; and Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). The law also contains provisions, intended to prevent the spread of spyware and malware, which prohibit the installation of a computer program without consent, as well as prohibitions on the indiscriminate harvesting of addresses to create distribution lists for spam.
Violations of FISA will carry significant Administrative Monetary Penalties of up to $ 1 Million for individuals and up to $ 10 Million for corporations. The law also creates a private right of action for actual damages, as well as statutory penalties of between $200 and $1 Million per contravention.
