Post Tagged with: "electronic commerce protection act"

The Electronic Commerce Protection Act – The Enforcement Prohibitions

The Electronic Commerce Protection Act will accomplish little if there is not a real commitment to enforcement.  The enforcement provisions form the bulk of anti-spam bill (my review of the prohibitions here, the effect on the do-not-call list here).  The enforcement part of the bill includes details on who does the enforcing, investigative powers, and penalties associated with anti-spam violations.  The short version is that the CRTC has been given a wide range of investigatory powers, including the power to compel ISPs to preserve transmission data.  Once it concludes its investigation, it can pursue a settlement or bring a notice of violation.  The penalties run as high as $10 million.  There are also smaller roles for the Privacy Commissioner and Competition Bureau as well as provisions to facilitate anti-spam lawsuits.

The more detailed version is:

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April 28, 2009 3 comments News

Why the ECPA Lays the Groundwork To Kill The Do-Not Call List

While the focus of attention on the Electronic Commerce Protection Act has obviously been on the anti-spam provisions (more on the enforcement as well as changes to privacy and competition law shortly), possibly the biggest story in the bill is one that has been unreported and is not discussed in the government briefing materialsBuried at the very end of the bill, are provisions that would kill the National Do-Not-Call list.  Section 86, the second last provision in the bill, states simply that Sections 41.1 to 41.7 of the Telecommunications Act are repealed.  Those sections are the provisions that create a legislative framework for the national do-not-call list. 

What is going on?

It would appear that the Government is laying the foundation for killing the do-not-call list with plans to replace it with the approach found in the ECPA.  That could be a good news story, since the ECPA adopts an opt-in model (ie. companies need consent before sending electronic commercial messages).  This means that Canadians would not need to register their phone numbers on the list, since the presumption would be that there is no right to call unless the caller/marketer has express or implied consent.  While many of the current do-not-call exceptions are found in the ECPA, some are not.  For example, the newspaper exception contained in the do-not-call list is not part of the ECPA and would therefore disappear with this transition.

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April 27, 2009 Comments are Disabled News

Canada Introduces Electronic Commerce Protection Act (aka Anti-Spam Bill)

Four years after the National Task Force on Spam unanimously recommended that the Canadian government introduce anti-spam legislation, the Government today took an important step forward by tabling Bill C-27, the Electronic Commerce Protection Act (bill not online yet).   Although the bill requires careful study before commenting in any detail, […]

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April 24, 2009 7 comments News