Lessons Learned: E-Learning Company Faces $50,000 Spam Fine

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has issued its first Compliance and Enforcement Decision* under Canada's Anti-Spam Law (CASL).  The Commission confirmed the staff finding that Blackstone Learning Corp. had committed 9 violations of CASL by sending almost 400,000 emails in 2014 without proper consent.  However, the Commission reduced the administrative monetary penalty originally set in the notice of violation from $640,000 to $50,000.  While it is open to Blackstone to appeal the decision, meaning that we may not have heard the last of this case, the Commission's decision provides useful commentary on its approach to CASL compliance and enforcement.  The following are lessons learned under two headings: implied consent, and what we will refer to as "sender conduct".