Industry Committee Amends Anti-Spam Bill

In May of this year, we sent an e-Alert that reviewed the concerns many Canadian businesses had expressed with the first draft of Bill C-27 — the Electronic Commerce Protection Act (ECPA). This draft was criticized for containing overly broad anti-spam and anti-spyware provisions that would have rendered illegal many common legitimate commercial practices. It would have potentially exposed businesses to millions of dollars in fines and liabilities for activities that were unrelated to sending spam e-mails or installing spyware programs.

Since then, officials at Industry Canada and MPs on the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology (INDU) have made substantial amendments to the bill to address the concerns raised by Canadian businesses. However, some problems remain.