Advisor.ca | What you need to know about anti-spam laws
Electronic communication has been around for awhile, but Canada recently became the last of the G8 countries to introduce laws to curb spam and spyware when Parliament passed the Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act (FISA) in December 2010.
THE LAW: OBJECTIVES
- To prevent spam, particularly when used for identity theft, phishing and spyware
- To end the flood of unsolicited emails
Applies to all forms of electronic messaging, including:
- e-mails
- text and instant messaging
- blog, video and social networking postings
PENALTIES
- for individuals, up to $1 million
- for organizations, up to $10 million
ENFORCER
- Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)Directors and officers of corporations are not shielded from personal liability and can be penalized if they authorized the offending conduct. The law also allows a person to sue FISA violators to recover actual damages and additional amounts of up to $1 million per day.