This new anti-spam law, that was actually was passed in December 2010, came into effect July 1st of this year and to understand these laws requires a slightly broader understanding of the reaching implications SPAM has globally.
For most people when you hear the word SPAM you think of just unsolicited email filling up your inbox, but SPAM can actually be linked to malware and spyware but recently you now see it invading text messages, Facebook and even Twitter feeds.
It is estimated that SPAM comprises a large portion of global Internet traffic where in the first quarter of this year it spiked to almost 7.5 trillion messages sent compared to the 2 trillion legitimate messages that went out.
As you can see from the stats, SPAM costs millions of dollars per year, takes up massive amounts of bandwidth and tons of lost productivity hours so it makes sense that Canada step up and help implement some type of legislation to help cut down this problem.
For most individuals, if you are just sending regular corresponding emails to friends, family, or acquaintances you really need not be concerned.
If you are a business or organization within Canada and you intend to send out commercial electronic messages to clients via text message, instant messages or email you will first need to:
1. Have the recipient’s consent
2. You must identify yourself and your organization
3. Must offer an unsubscribe mechanism
4. Your email message must not be false or misleading
Because this new law does contain many other specifics and elaborates on the summary I’ve provided, I would highly recommend going to the following Government of Canada website:
http://fightspam.gc.ca/
Of the many changes and advantages of this new law is the ability to now report spam. If you have received an email for which you did not give consent or that you believe is misleading or fraudulent, forward it to the new Spam Reporting Centre.
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