To most people, myself included, the word "spam"
conjures up images of unwanted and annoying emails covertly finding
their way through our e-mail filters. I am hesitant to believe that
my legal services have been referred to "Nigerian
princes". Similarly, I cannot help but wonder why I am so
often inundated with cheap offers for pharmaceutical products.
These are but a few examples of electronic messages that we have
come to view as the archetype of "spam". Thus, it will
come as a surprise (or even a shock!) to most people that the
emails and other electronic messages that you send on a daily basis
may be caught by Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation
("CASL").
CASL, which was given royal assent on December 15, 2010 and is
expected to come into force in 2014, hopes to prohibit the sending
of a commercial electronic message
("CEM") without the sender first (A)
complying with the form of CEM prescribed by CASL and the
regulations and (B) obtaining the prior implied or
