Renewed Interest in Canada for Anti-Spam Legislation?

On February 3, 2004, Senator Donald Oliver reintroduced his anti-spam legislation, Bill S-2. The Bill was originally introduced on September 17, 2003, but died when Parliament was prorogued in November. As noted in an earlier issue of E-Tipsâ„¢ (Vol 2, No 8, September 25, 2003), the Bill, entitled An Act to prevent unsolicited messages on the Internet, aims to establish and maintain a no-spam list, adopt more severe offences for spam involving pornography, fraud, or where children are targeted; erect a regulatory council (where ISP participation would be compulsory); and require the federal Minister of Industry to consult with provincial and international governments on methods to control and reduce spam. Although anti-spam advocates will view Bill S-2 as a positive sign, private members' Bills often fail to become law unless they attract Government support. Perhaps prompted by Bill S-2, Canada's Industry Minister, Lucienne Robillard, indicated that the Government is considering the introduction of its own legislation to fight spam. Canada appears to be one of a shrinking number of industrialized nations which has no form of direct anti-spam legislation. In January 2003, Industry Canada issued a spam discussion paper entitled, "E-mail Marketing: Consumer Choices and Business Opportunities". While aware that the explosion of spam deserved serious attention, Industry Canada has taken the position that a broad range of stakeholders must be consulted on the issues before legislation is enacted. In the meantime, spam continues to grow at an increasing rate. According to a report issued in 2003 by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), 50% of all e-mail could have been spam in December 2003. The report notes that a comparable estimate for January 2003 was 25% and for March 2003 was 36%. Other sources assert that the percentage of spam travelling across the Internet in December 2003 could be as high as two-thirds of all e-mail traffic. In Canada, recent estimates suggest the 7 million Canadians receive spam on a weekly basis, with 90% of those emails originating outside Canada. The UNCTAD Report indicates that the United States is the greatest producer of spam, accounting for 58.4% of the global total. The next largest producers are much more modest: China (5.6%), UK (5.2%), Brazil (4.9%) and Canada (4.1%). For more information on the Minister's consideration of potential anti-spam legislation, see: http://www.canoe.com/CNEWS/Canada/2004/02/04/334906-cp.html. To view Bill S-2, see: http://makeashorterlink.com/?V1DA25077. To view Industry Canada's background papers, see: http://e-com.ic.gc.ca/english/strat/spam.html; and http://e-com.ic.gc.ca/english/strat/email_marketing.html. The UNCTAD Report can be viewed at: http://www.unctad.org/en/docs//ecdr2003_en.pdf. For more information on recent international anti-spam efforts, see: http://dww.local/articles/anti-spam_update_II.htm. Summary by: Colin Adams