A bill has been re-introduced in the Canadian Senate that would ban unsolicited commercial e-mail and give individuals the right to sue those who they believe have violated it.
Dubbed S-220, or An Act respecting commercial electronic messages (the Anti-Spam Act), the bill is stricter than the U.S. Can Spam Act, which has been criticized by some for failing to outlaw unsolicited commercial e-mail and failing to allow individuals to take legal action.
Canada’s bill—which is being sponsored by Sen. Yoine Goldstein of Quebec—would cover any message received by a person in Canada, regardless of the sender’s location.
It would require commercial e-mail to be permission based, but would exempt messages to people with whom the sender has a business relationship. It also would exempt public-opinion polls, political e-mail, messages from non-profits and e-mail from educational institutions to households in which a member or former member has been or is enrolled.
S-220 would require all commercial e-mail to “clearly and accurately” identify who sent it or who authorized it to be sent.
It would also require commercial e-mail to contain “readily accessible and accurate” header and contact information for the sender, an unsubscribe mechanism that is functional for at least 30 days after the mailing, and a clear statement that the recipient can use the mechanism to opt out.
Under the bill, senders would have seven days to honor unsubscribes. The U.S. Can-Spam Act gives mailers 10 days to do so.
Canada’s bill would also ban misleading subject lines and sending e-mail that falsely purports itself to be from someone else or attempts to get recipients to divulge personal information.
The bill would also ban sending commercial e-mal to harvested lists and lists created by generating random letters and numbers, two common spammer tactics.
Violators are subject to fines of up to $1.5 million and five years in prison.
Besides giving individuals the right to sue, the bill would also give Internet service providers the right to shut off service to anyone who has violated it or who the ISP has “reasonable grounds” to believe is sending illegal e-mail.
The bill would cover not just senders of unsolicited commercial e-mail, but anyone “who knows or ought to know” their business is being advertised in violation of the law.
