Post Tagged with: "Spyware"

Businesses Think Anti-Spam Should Protect Them, Not Consumers

Appeared in the Toronto Star on February 9, 2013 as Businesses Think Anti-Spam Law Should Protect Them, Not Consumers For the past month, business groups from across the country have waged an extraordinary campaign against Canada’s anti-spam legislation. With the long overdue law likely to take effect by year-end, groups […]

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February 15, 2013 Comments are Disabled Columns Archive

Canadian Business Groups on Anti-Spam Jurisdiction: It’s a Problem Unless It Involves Our Spyware

Yesterday’s post on the coalition of business lobby groups support for a spyware provision in the Canadian anti-spam law attracted considerable attention, with many shocked at the breadth of the proposal. While the post focused on how the provision could be broadly interpreted to permit spyware to track copyright infringement, block websites, or to stop attempts to access wireless networks without authorization, it did not discuss yet another serious concern involving the jurisdictional scope of the provision. As noted in the post, the lobby groups, led by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Marketing Association, the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association and the Entertainment Software Association of Canada, have asked the government to create an exception for the express consent requirement on software installation for:

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February 7, 2013 4 comments News

Sony Rootkit Redux: Canadian Business Groups Lobby For Right To Install Spyware on Your Computer

The deadline for comments on Industry Canada’s draft anti-spam regulations passed earlier this week with a group of 13 industry associations – including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Marketing Association, the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association and the Entertainment Software Association of Canada – submitting a lengthy document  that, if adopted, would gut much of the law. The groups adopt radical interpretations of the law to argue for massive new loopholes or for the indefinite delay of several provisions. I will focus on some of the submissions shortly, but this post focuses on the return of an issue that was seemingly killed years ago: demands to permit surreptitious surveillance by the copyright owners and other groups for private enforcement purposes.

During the anti-spam law debates in 2009, copyright lobby groups promoted amendments that would have allowed for expansive surveillance of user computers. Coming on the heels of the Sony rootkit scandal, the government ultimately rejected those proposals (the Liberals had plans to propose such amendments but backed down), leaving in place an important provision that requires express consent prior to the installation of computer software. The provision states:

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February 6, 2013 94 comments News

Anti-Spam Bill Passes Committee Without Copyright Lobby Spyware Provision

Bill C-27, the anti-spam bill, passed through the Industry Committee late Monday with the bill largely intact.  Indeed, Industry Minister Tony Clement was true to his word as the several provisions that would have watered down the legislation were dropped (third party referrals, exceptions for survey companies and self-regulated industries) […]

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October 28, 2009 4 comments News

Government Commits to Withdrawing Lobby Spyware Changes

Bill C-27, the anti-spam bill, is nearly through the Industry Committee with a limited number of changes.  The Liberals have already stated that they would not be bringing forward the amendments promoted by the copyright lobby that would have permitted unauthorized access to personal computers in some situations.  The same […]

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October 25, 2009 4 comments News