Mccarthy Tétrault Hosts Webinar On Anti-Spam Bill

McCarthy Tétrault recently hosted a webinar on Bill C-27, the Electronic Commerce Protection Act (ECPA), Canada's proposed legislation to curtail spam and spyware. Partners Barry Sookman, Charles Morgan and Lorne Salzman discussed some of the issues with the current bill and its implications for Canadian businesses.

Barry outlined the objectives of the bill and discussed the anti-spam provisions, noting the broad prohibition against sending unsolicited commercial electronic messages in terms of the technology affected and the content captured. He observed that Bill 27, unlike anti-spam legislation in other jurisdictions, is not limited to messages sent with some element of fraud or misleading information, sent with an "intent to deceive or mislead," sent to addresses that were gathered using "automated means," or sent in bulk. Barry also provided some surprising examples of types of communications that might be classified as "spam" under the legislation, as currently