The Electronic Commerce Protection Act (aka Bill C-27 or the anti-spam bill) is a lengthy, complicated piece of legislation. At 69 pages, it involves many new prohibitions, enforcement measures, and changes to existing laws. Given its complexity, I'll divide the substance of the bill into several separate postings. This post focuses on the prohibitions – there are three primary prohibitions but it quickly gets complicated. The short version of this is that the bill requires all senders to obtain express consent before sending commercial electronic messages (including email, instant message, etc.) and to include contact and unsubscribe information. It also includes provisions designed to counter phishing, spyware, and botnets used to send spam.
The more detailed version is:
