CASL’s Inscrutable Computer Program Provisions To Be Tackled By CRTC

With the computer program sections of Canada's anti-spam/anti-malware law (CASL) coming into force in January 2015, the CRTC has now started reaching out to the public for questions they want guidance on in FAQs or bulletins. I attended such a session last week (on September 9, 2014) at an IT.CAN Public Affairs Forum Roundtable. The attendees were Dana-Lynn Wood (Senior Enforcement Officer, Electronic Commerce Enforcement, CRTC) Kelly-Anne Smith (Legal Counsel, Legal Sector CRTC), and Andre Leduc (Manager of the National Anti-spam Coordinating Body, Industry Canada).

Unlike the initial information sessions related to the anti-messaging parts of CASL, no guidance was provided about how CASL or the applicable regulations will be interpreted by the CRTC. Instead, the CRTC has decided to get feedback on the issues the public wants guidance on, to consider the answers, and then to provide either an FAQ or bulletin to provide its guidance. Unfortunately, according to Ms