Mr. Greg Pollock, Advocis' president and CEO can apparently sense when someone needs the services of a financial adviser, and is fighting on behalf of consumers. Lucky us.

 Anti-spam law restricts freedom to conduct legitimate business, says Advocis

"(Proposed Canadian anti-spam bill C-27) will mean that financial advisors and planners will have more difficulty reaching out to potential (emphasis ours – ed.) clients who are interested in receiving information and advice on important financial issues"

 One wonders how a financial advisor can be so prescient as to know when a potential client absolutely needs to be contacted (but yet, so many of them have done so poorly managing their client portfolios over the past year).

Besides which, PIPEDA has long dictated an opt-in régime in Canada, and this doesn't appear to be negatively impacting the ability of businesses to do business. C-27 does not change that.

The Advocis article goes on to say:

"The government has an important and difficult task at
hand but it can't lose focus on the goals of the legislation. Without
question, Canadians need protection against fraud, phishing, misleading
advertising and bulk spam emails. But consumers also need access to
advice offered by financial advisors and planners," says Pollock. 

There is no "but" here. We are delighted Advocis recognize that consumers need protection against online fraud and phishing. So do the Anti-phishing Working Group, an industry consortium of experts and law enforcement. If people have no money to invest due to fraudulent losses, they won't need a financial advisor to help them get their money back, they will need a law to go after the perpetrators.

The APWG says, in the Q1/Q2 2009 report:

  • Phishing malware reports are up 585% in the first half of 2009
  • Banking trojan/password?stealing crimeware infections detected increased during more than 186 percent between Q4, 2008 and Q2, 2009
  • Canada ranks fourth or third hosting phishing sites in the first half of this year

Finally, as we have repeatedly noted, numerous experienced online marketers with a lot at stake have reviewed bill C-27 and do not see how it impedes their business in any way, and are actively supporting passage into law.

[ Sign the CAUCE online petition to support Canada's antispam bill C-27
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/SupportC27/ ]