CASL Archives

CASL

CASL marches towards starting gate

Earlier today I gave a speech at the 19^th Annual Regulatory Compliance for Financial Institutions conference on the application of the OSFI B-10 Guidelines to outsourcing and cloud computing transactions. I came early to hear a presentation on CASL given by Kelly-Anne Smith, legal counsel at the CRTC.

In addition to providing an overview of some of CASL’s provisions and the CRTC regulations and guidelines, she provided some information about CASL that many have been wondering about including the following:

The Industry Canada regulations are final.

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CASL – An FAQ

Earlier today, I had the pleasure of attending a conference of the Barreau de Montreal on the subject of Canada’s anti-spam/spyware law (CASL). I was on a panel with Bill Abbott , Senior Legal Counsel, Legal Affairs, Bell Canada, Lynne Perrault , Director of the Division of Enforcement of electronic commerce, with the CRTC, and Stephanie Rich, Assistant General Counsel, protection of privacy and ethics, Aimia.

My talk was titled Canada’s anti-spam law – An FAQ. My slides are set out below.…

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Canada’s anti-spam law and universities

Contrary to a popular misconception, Canada’s anti-spam law (CASL) will apply to Canadian universities. Unlike universities and charities in other countries like Australia that have specific exemptions, CASL will impose significant burdens on these organizations even though they are the least likely offenders and have very constrained resources, making compliance even more difficult for them.

When CASL was introduced, the public was told that organizations that did not engage in commercial activities such as charities did not need to worry about CASL because it only applied to the extent their communications involved selling or promoting a product.…

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Geist

Michael Geist on CASL: flaws not Festivus grievances

Last week Michael Geist published a blog post summarizing his remarks to Industry Minister Moore as to why the almost universal criticisms of Canada’s anti-spam/malware law CASL are unfounded. He suggested it is intense lobbying by “squeaky wheels” with “knee jerk” “greatly exaggerated” and “Festivus” grievances about CASL” that has delayed bringing the law into effect”. He acknowledges that CASL creates new compliance obligations but suggests they are not onerous and even standard internationally (when referring to “opt-in” for spam) and that there is not much more to CASL than “a simple proposition – obtain customer consent and you can do pretty much whatever you like.”…

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NSA spying, cyber security and liability under Canada’s anti-spam spyware law CASL

Last week the Guardian and New York Times ran stories claiming that NSA and its UK counterpart GCHQ have developed or employed means to crack the security being used to protect the privacy of personal data, online transactions, e-mails and other internet communications. According to the reports, the intelligence agencies have, among other things, collaborated with technology companies and ISPs to insert secret vulnerabilities – known as backdoors or trapdoors – into commercial encryption software, computer chips, and devices, covertly influenced their product designs, and introduced weaknesses into security standards.…

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CASL

Implications of Canada’s Anti-SPAM Legislation (CASL) for IT Business

Yesterday, Andre Leduc of Industry Canada, Lynn Perrault of the CRTC, along with Toronto IT lawyers Mike Fekete and Mark Hayes, spoke at IT.Can’s The 2003 Information Technology Law Spring Forum. Their topic was the Implications of Canada’s Anti-SPAM Legislation (CASL) for IT Business.

Andre Leduc, who was involved in the drafting of CASL and the Industry Canada regulations, provided some information about next steps with respect to bringing CASL into force. He stated that:

Industry Canada has completed its analysis of feeback received on the second draft of the Industry Canada regulations.

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CASL

CRTC reports on CASL consultation

The CRTC recently published a Report on the Informal Consultation of 25 February 2013 among Industry and Consumer Groups and CRTC Staff on Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation. The consultation followed the Commission’s release of guidelines on CASL.

The objective of the informal consultation “was to facilitate a focused conversation and gather useful information regarding issues that businesses and consumer groups foresee when CASL comes into force.” The discussions focused on six topics:

Proof of consent
Section 66 of CASL and the three-year transitional period
Obtaining consent to send a commercial electronic message (CEM) – seeking consent for affiliates
Prescribed information in a CEM – “on behalf of”
Installation of computer programs

The report summarizes some of the concerns raised by participants.…

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CASL

Canada’s anti-spam law (CASL), too much of a good thing

Here is a longer version of my article published in the Financial Post this morning titled Delete this anti-spam law.

Canadians don’t like spam. They also don’t like malware. But the more they learn about Canada’s new, but not yet in force, anti-spam law commonly referred to as CASL (for “Canada’s Anti-spam Legislation”), they don’t like it much either. The root of the problem is that the law starts with the assumption that all Canadians are spammers and purveyors of malware and works back from there by banning legitimate and illegitimate activities with vague rules and incomplete exceptions.…

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CASL: the submissions to Industry Canada on the draft regulations

The period for filing submissions to the Industry Canada consultation on the draft Electronic Commerce Protection Regulations has closed.

Industry Canada received numerous submissions from organizations representing all sectors of the Canadian public including charities, not-for profit and educational institutions, private individuals, small, medium and large businesses, retailers, publishers, financial institutions, technology and telecommunications companies, vehicle manufacturers and others. The organizations that filed submissions include the Ontario Nonprofit Network, Imagine Canada, the AUCC, AccessPrivacy, Canadian Bar Association, Magazines Canada, The Canadian Marketing Association, Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada, a Coalition of Business and Technology Associations, The Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Retail Council of Canada, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Information Technology Association of Canada, and CWTA .…

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Has the CRTC compromised its judicial independence on CASL?

Philip Palmer, a former specialist practitioner at Industry Canada Legal Services and the person who oversaw the development of CASL and its regulations, just published an important blog post, CRTC CASL Guidelines: Do they Compromise Adjudicative Independence? In the post, he questions whether the CRTC should be publishing enforcement guidelines in the name of the Commission in view of the important adjudicative role that the Commission also has in enforcing CASL.

In part, he says the following:

As the guidelines deal with a matter that is central to the CASL scheme (express consent to receive commercial electronic messages), and one in which there are possible arguments to be made in favour of industry practices (PIPEDA, for instance, specifically recognises a pre-ticked box as a real consent).

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