CRTC responds to stakeholder concerns with final regulations under CASL
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has finalised its regulations under Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), resulting in a set of rules that are more balanced, reasonable, and in line with the objectives of the legislation. CASL creates rules for sending commercial electronic messages (CEMs) and installing computer programs. It also establishes a general prohibition against the alteration of transmission data and is expected to come into force later in 2012. Industry Canada is also responsible for developing regulations, and should be posting another version of its regulations within the next month or so.
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CAUCE Supporting Members CAUCE thanks its supporting members, whose financial support makes our outreach and education activities possible. Individual Members All CAUCE Board Members are also full individual members of CAUCE Corporate Members
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Become a CAUCE member Show your support of CAUCE by becoming a member! Click here to join CAUCE and to subscribe to our newsletter. CAUCE is an all-volunteer organization, but we do have expenses, so there are several levels of paid memberships beyond the...
The AARP Are Spamming Again
The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP.org) have an unfortunate history of spamming, their IPs and domain have been blacklisted at certain points, and it appears they are again up to their old tricks.
Canada moves ahead on the Spam Reporting Centre
One of the important parts of Canada's new anti-spam law (CASL) is the Spam Reporting Centre. It is intended to serve multiple functions, including to help the government track the effectiveness of its anti-spam enforcement, to collect data to bring legal cases...
J.D. Falk – In Memoriam
Jesse David “J.D.” Falk - May 24, 1974 - November 16, 2011 It is with the heaviest of hearts that CAUCE must make note of the passing of one of our own. J.D. Falk was a founder of CAUCE, and one of the nicest people in the anti-spam community. Besides being a board...
How to Prevent (and mitigate) Data Breaches
Cisco's Michael Sanchez published a great piece called 5 Steps for avoiding data breaches. We tweeted, plussed, and re-posted this elsewhere, and at the encouragement of SURBL's Jeff Chan, here's a blog post about this practical advice. (Do read the...
Comments on proposed Industry Canada regulations for Canada’s Anti-spam Law
Mr. Bruce Wallace Bruce.Wallace@ic.gc.ca Director, Electronic Commerce Policy Electronic Commerce Branch/SITT Industry Canada Ottawa, Ontario CANADA Regarding : Canada Gazette, Part I Vol. 145, No. 28 — July 9, 2011 The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial...
Comments on proposed CRTC regulations for Canada’s Anti-spam law
We need not go into how frequently abuse happens on the Internet. Daily news reports in the popular press and media speak to that, and the ubiquity of the problem cannot be overstated. Beside the obvious criminal element involved in spamming, hacking and other Internet abuse, there remain, unfortunately, some marketers from name-brand companies who engage in poor practices. Organizations like the Messaging Anti-abuse Working Group (MAAWG.org) have worked very hard to develop Best Common Practices documents, many based upon the fine work undertaken by the Canadian Task Force on Spam. We encourage you to review them as you proceed in this process and the work ahead of you.
Ivor Tossell perhaps said it best in his article recently published in the Globe and Mail:
“Providing real content to real customers with whom you’ve got a real relationship is the opposite of spam”
CAUCE generally supports the draft regulations. Our goal, which we believe you share, is that the recipient of electronic communications be protected from abuse, and when it occurs, be able to stop it, and report it easily and without technical skills beyond those of ordinary Internet users.
We must respect and preserve the ability for senders of commercial messaging to comply with the law and the regulations; we also think that avoiding trivial or technical ‘gotcha’ violations is fundamental to an effective and fair anti-spam régime in Canada. That said, we anticipate some commentary will propose changes that open dangerous loopholes that will be quickly exploited by Internet abusers.
Marketers are not the main reason people are on the Internet; business use of the net still lags far behind what is most popular. The sites that individuals most often visit are social networks and other forms of personal, one-to-one interactions with friends and family, first and foremost.
e360 vs. Spamhaus is over, e360 wins three bucks
Four years ago a bulk mailer called e360 sued the Spamhaus Project for a broad range of alleged evils interfereing with e360's allegedly highly successful email marketing business, which most of the rest of us considered to be spamming to sell junk. Due to a variety...
Five Countries are Considering Anti-spam Laws
The international press is alight with reports of various countries consider privacy and anti-spam legislation. It appears that many countries have arrived at the logical conclusion that after years of supposed ‘self regulation’, some marketers must be brought to heel by way of regulation and law, to stop abusive practices.
Facebook has stolen all the contents of mobile address books, including private telephone numbers
As you know, Facebook have a long, storied history, including several ongoing brushes with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, and despite repeat warnings against abuse of end-user rights, they recently deployed facial recognition software with no notice given their...