Q: Every day, I get tons of e-mails I never asked for, selling me everything from discount fertilizer to special pills. Is there anything that can be done about it? Is it legal for these people to send these things to my computer when I’m not asking for them?
A: I am not the most tech-savvy guy, but certainly can understand your issue. I get the same things, multiple times each day. Sometimes it drives me crazy.
These e-mails are called spam, which I used to slice, fry, and put in a sandwich with a little mustard. However, these ones are far more annoying than the old type.
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They have become a plague for businesses, clogging up servers and e-mail accounts as junk mail.
A good spam filter can screen out most of these messages. At our firm, we get help from an information technology specialist with more wizardry power than Harry Potter.
He tells me this filtering function is really just the organizing of e-mail messages according to set terms. Most often it is set and done automatically, so if your incoming messages contain certain terms or combinations of terms, they don’t get through to your in box. Instead they’re diverted to a sort of isolation chamber or junk mail box.
From a legal perspective, this is a poor solution. The people sending you this junk continue unfettered. Also, they know about spam filters and how to get around them so that every time you set up a roadblock, they figure out how to get around it.
Their costs of doing it amount to a licence rather than a real impediment to spamming.
Canada is currently considering federal legislation, broad in nature, which would prevent or severely limit such techniques.
Bill C 27, tabled this spring, is called the Electronic Commerce Protection Act.
If passed, this new law would regulate the cyber traffic in commercial electronic messages. In addition to regular e-mail, the new law covers text messages, sound, voice mail, and instant internet messages. It also specifically mentions malware, such as spyware or anything that installs a program on your computer without telling you first.
This new law will require messages to be in a particular format, which must include certain things. There will have to be a way for the message recipient to stop getting them, such as an unsubscribe button. The sender has to be able to stop sending this stuff within 10 days of your request, which is a pretty tight time frame if you consider the high volume of e-mails these people are sending out.
There are also fines and penalties, up to $1 million for persons violating the law and up to $10 million for organizations. As always, enforcement is a concern, but with no laws on the books there will certainly be no enforcement.
The new law also gives rise to a private course of action. If someone keeps spamming you after you’ve asked them to stop or sends e-mails that contain spyware, you can sue them for specific damages.
It remains to be seen whether this law will be passed and whether it will be effective. But it is an important first step in the battle against these electronic bandits.
Rick Danyliuk is a practising lawyer in Saskatoon with McDougall Gauley LLP. He also has experience in teaching and writing about legal issues. His columns are intended as general advice only. Individuals are encouraged to seek other opinions and/or personal counsel when dealing with legal matters.
