Bill S-202, which received it's second reading last week just before Parliament was prorogued, would crack down on spam by prohibiting the sending of commercial emails to Canadians without their prior consent.
Introduced by Senator Yoine Goldstein, the bill would also ban practices such as automated “email harvesting,” and would require all commercial email messages — even those sent legitimately — to have a clear subject line, accurate contact information, and an easy way to unsubscribe.
While Canada has its PIPEDA privacy policy, it is the only G8 country that does not have any anti-spam laws and technically it is not illegal to send spam emails in Canada.
“Canada needs this legislation and I really intend to be able to push it forward — I'm really committed to getting it through in 2009,” says Goldstein.
“It's not a partisan bill. I don't think any party would oppose it and its really quite important that we have it. Even if there's another election I'll just reintroduce it when we reconvene.”
Other measures in Bill S-202, or the Anti-Spam Act, cover “phishing” attacks. Phishing occurs when spam messages lure email users to fraudulent websites resembling those of trusted businesses, the aim being to fool them into entering their user names, passwords, or other information that can be used to gain access to their online accounts.
The cost of spam-related crime to the Canadian economy is estimated to be in the billions. Goldstein says that while Canadians haven't yet lost confidence in the Internet as a vehicle for doing business, “that will be an inevitable consequence if we keep on going this way.”
Canada received a bit of black eye last month when a Canadian spammer was prosecuted by an American court under the U.S. Can-Spam Act. Facebook won a judgment of $832 million against Montreal-based Adam Guerbuez who had bombarded users of the social networking website with sexually explicit spam messages.
According to a news release from Senator Goldstein's office, the Guerbuez case is just one of many in which individuals engaging in illegal spam activity in Canada had to face prosecution elsewhere due to the fact that Canada is lacking the sufficient legal framework to manage the problem of spam.
At the Privacy and Identity Theft Conference held recently in Vancouver, Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said Canada's lack of anti-spam legislation is “an embarrassment for a country that prides itself on the quality of life for its citizens and its rights and freedoms.”
Penalties proposed by Goldstein's bill range from a fine of up to $500,000 (or two years in jail), to a fine of up to $1.5 million (or five years in jail) for repeated offences. Additional fines equal to the profits from a spamming operation could also be imposed. Those harmed by spam would also be empowered to seek damages from the perpetrators in court.
As well as providing police with new tools, Bill S-202 would equip Internet Service Providers (ISP) with the authority to block, filter and refuse spam messages. Upon giving reasonable notice, ISP's would also be able to refuse or cancel service or refuse access to any person who has been convicted under the bill or who sends commercial electronic messages that the ISP has reasonable grounds to believe are sent in contravention of the bill.
Businesses aware that they were being promoted by spam would also be liable unless they took action to stop the messages or notify authorities. Exemptions would be made for certain groups, such as charities, political parties, polling firms and businesses that have a pre-existing relationship with an email user. However, these groups would still be required to allow users to opt out of further messages.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the first spam email ever sent.