Anti-spam bill under contention, referred to Senate committee for study

With the Senate set to study the Conservative government’s anti-spam bill in the New Year, provisions around existing business relationships, the sharing non-sensitive customer information among business affiliates or partners and the ability of consumers to opt out of further email communications are likely to be major areas of contention. Bill C-27, or the Electronic Commerce Protection Act, was tabled in the House of Commons in April. During hearings at the House Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology in the spring and fall, many business organizations argued that the bill would dramatically change business practices and make it virtually impossible for businesses to establish relationships with new customers. Many of these issues were addressed and clarified in amendments. There are, however, some controversial matters still to contend with during upcoming Senate committee hearings. Will the bill support an opt-in regime where consumers have to give express consent to allow organizations to market to them with email? Or will it allow, in certain circumstances, for an opt-out approach where consumers have to express that they don’t want electronic communications from businesses, their affiliates or partners? Some believe the bill as passed by the House of Commons earlier this month expressly forbids an opt-out approach with respect to the sharing of customer contact information with business affiliates or partners. Others say, however, that this aspect of the bill is not entirely clear. Wally Hill, VP of public affairs and communications at the Canadian Marketing Association (CMA), tells Tech Media Reports there is still a fair amount of confusion around what opt-out consent means. He says he vows to press the Senate for clarifications on how an opt-out approach fits into the bill or could be clarified through additional regulations. The CMA supports an opt-out approach when it comes to the business relationship provisions. The opt-out approach favoured by the CMA would get consent from the customer to opt-out of email communications from business affiliates or partners with which the customer has an existing relationship. For example, a customer may sign up for a credit card for which there is a loyalty program. Under the CMA proposal, the customer would have to opt-out of receiving email communications from the loyalty program. If this consent is not provided, the loyalty program would send email to the customer without having to obtain express consent from the customer. “I’m talking about obtaining opt-out consent upfront to share your information and then offering opt-out again on every email,” Hill says, noting that it can be referred to as “a double opt-out opportunity.” An opt-in approach, on the other hand, would require consumers to opt-in to receive email communications from affiliated businesses or partners, such as a loyalty program. Creating an opt-in regime for this would be devastating to the marketing industry and the Canadian economy, says Hill. “Where you require opt-in consent, a business has lost an important opportunity because the customer didn’t actively say, ‘yes, you can contact me again with my email address or share this with your business partners.’ You’re cut off from doing that. That’s a big departure from the way out economy works and the way marketing works in this country.” The opt-out provisions that the CMA is seeking may not find themselves in the final text of the bill. Hill says the issue of opt-out consent for sharing information among business affiliates could be dealt with in regulations. “We’re concerned about it and we’ll continue to look for some clarification and reassurance that when the government says that they’re not trying to make life difficult for legitimate responsible businesses, ,” he says. But work on new anti-spam legislation could go up in smoke. Reports say Prime Minister Stephen Harper is considering proroguing Parliament until after the Olympics, killing all legislation.

Anti-spam bill under contention, referred to Senate committee for study

News | 12/18/2009 3:37 pm EST

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