Clement urges parties to fast track spam bill to Senate

OTTAWA—Industry Minister Tony Clement says he hopes the federal government’s new anti-spam legislation—introduced in the House in mostly the same form as the version that died in the Senate—can be put on the fast track to enactment. Clement introduced Bill C-28, the Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act, in the Commons Tuesday. The bill is mostly the same as previous legislation introduced by the government with the aim of reducing spam. “Certainly, we hope to have this bill force this year, but that entirely depends on the consideration of the House of Commons and the Senate,” Clement said at a news conference in Ottawa. In the last session of Parliament, the previous version of the bill, C-27, the Electronic Commerce Protection Act, had passed the House of Commons and reached the Senate transport and communications committee. Agreement between federal parties could put the new Bill C-28 back in the Senate on a fast track to enactment. Clement said the bill is similar to the most updated version of the previous legislation, which counted 64 amendments. The only changes to the bill are a few “housekeeping amendments” and another change concerning the provision allowing companies to email people who have consented to receive information, Clement said. In Bill C-28, the provision now proposes fewer exceptions for companies sending emails after receiving consent. The bill is also intended to be technology-neutral, so that spam received by text message or other means will be covered. “I’m hoping all will go according to plan and the opposition parties will be very comfortable with this legislation, that we can give it the oversight it requires, but perhaps the attention it deserves, to be passed over to the committee,” Clement said. Canada is currently the only G8 country without anti-spam legislation, and Clement said the country needs to catch up. “Canada is seen as a haven for spammers because of the gaps in our current legislation,” he said at the press conference. “We’re a place where spammers can reside and inflict their damage throughout the world. We’re an outlier right now, and we’ve got to change that … Other OECD countries already have these kinds of laws in place. We’re basically catching up to the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.” But Clement said the bill will not put an end to all spamming in Canada. “I’m not saying to Canadians that once this bill passes that all spam will cease. That’s impossible. But there will be a significant diminution,” he said. “In other countries, where this has been tried, such as Australia, they immediately dropped out of the top 10 list of worst spamming jurisdictions.” According to by the Spamhaus Project, an international non-profit organization that tracks spam, Canada is ninth on a list of the 10 worst spam countries. But Tom Copeland, chair of the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP), said Canada is not in as bad a situation as other countries on the list, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, which rank first and fourth, respectively. “The reality is that Canada may be in the so-called ‘dirty dozen’ countries, but the actual amount of spam that comes out of Canada pales in comparison of what comes out of the United States, and they’ve had there for a couple of years,” Copeland said in an interview. Still, that doesn’t mean Canada won’t benefit from the legislation, he said. “It’s been a priority for a long time … we were at a point when it was of critical importance to Internet users, service providers, and businesses, who were literally wasting billions of dollars a year because of spam.” At the press conference, Clement said the Canadian economy loses $3 billion per year in productivity due to spam. He added that in an average unfiltered email account, spam would comprise upwards of 95 per cent of messages received. Bloc Québécois spokesperson Carl Boisvert told The Wire Report that the party is reviewing the bill. The Liberal Party and the NDP could not be reached for comment Tusesday. Michael Geist, law professor and Canada research chair in Internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, said the delay in putting anti-spam legislation into force has been a “source of concern and frustration” for Canadians. “The bill reflected a considerable amount of compromise, and given that brought back the bill with basically the same compromise in place, one would hope that it’s been placed on a fast track for passage,” Geist said. “The fastest way to slow things down, so to speak, would have been to make wholesale changes, which would have undoubtedly resulted in another round of hearings and lobbying. Given that all four parties supported the bill in basically the same form last time, one would hope they would support this bill as well.” Copeland said the bill gives agencies enough power to proactively seek out spammers operating in Canada. In its current version, the bill would allow the CRTC and the Competition Tribunal to impose administrative monetary penalties of $1 million for individuals and $10 million for organizations that violate the act. It also proposes to allow the Office of the Privacy Commissioner to take measures against the collection of personal information. Last week, Industry Canada said in its business plan for 2010-2011 that it is collaborating with other departments to establish a Spam Reporting Centre. “In the end it’s going to get down to enforcement and whether or not the law has the appropriate enforcement mechanism in place,” Copeland said. “I think we do, at this point. But it remains to be seen whether the enforcement agencies actually take their roles seriously and are proactive in enforcement or are reactive and simply wait until there are complaints submitted to them.” Copeland said the government could start pursuing cases as soon as the bill comes into force. Clement introduced another tech-related bill Tuesday, Bill C-29, the Safeguarding Canadians’ Personal Information Act. The bill seeks to add new requirements in the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) so that organizations must report data breaches to the privacy commissioner. Clement said the bills are part of the federal government’s digital economy strategy. kfournier@thewirereport.ca

Clement urges parties to fast track spam bill to Senate

News | 05/25/2010 10:25 pm EDT

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