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Cleaning out your in-box

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I'm sure I am not alone when I say this: when it comes to email, I hate spam.

You know, all those annoying messages from companies you have never heard of promoting the latest diet pill or newest clothing trend or the messages from Nigeria and other foreign countries saying that I have been chosen to win a grand sum of money, and all they need is more contact information — you know, my name, address, social security number, banking information and the like, so they can begin to transfer the huge sum of money into my bank account.

In my business, I send and receive on average more than 1,100 emails a week. Spam messages received can number anywhere between 200 and 300 messages. It’s a total pain, but one that you have to live with in this technical world we live in. Face it, spam is a part of email and a part of doing business.

That business changed on July 1 when Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) came into effect. The average Canadian might think this new anti-spam law would put an end to the endless pop-up ads, promised money from Nigeria and promotional messages from companies we have never heard of.

Well, think again.

An on-going series of articles written by Business in Vancouver reporter Nelson Bennett, which Coast Reporter has been featuring on our website, say the new CASL will do nothing to stop the endless array of spam emails I have outlined.

According to Andrew Aguilar and Ryan Black, co-authors of Internet Law Essentials: Canada’s Anti-Spam Law, CASL applies only to various forms of electronic messages and programs with some form of commercial purpose.

The new law now forbids companies sending emails and text messages without the prior consent of the recipient. So my in-box has been filled the past few days with messages from companies asking me whether I wish to continue receiving their messages. I had to opt in essentially. What baffles me and others like Aguilar and Black is the new law does not address the annoying pop-up ads and doesn’t address directed advertising — which makes up the majority of the spam that most of us receive.

The new law won’t stop unwanted advertising that is published on Twitter, nor will it stop unsolicited advertisements from popping up on Facebook users’ timelines — all things that should be considered.

And here’s another kicker: the law itself doesn’t even mention the word “spam” in its definitions, according to Aguilar and Black — another curious decision that quite frankly makes no sense to me.

If the federal government, who came up with this law, really wanted to go after the spammers, then go after the spammers. Why come up with a system that will penalize small businesses even more? And that’s what this does.

Say you own a small business, such as a bake shop or a photography business, and every once in a while you send out an email to your contact list informing your clients of an upcoming sale or product. Well, if you didn’t have prior permission from your clients, you, as the small business owner, could be hit with thousands of dollars in fines if you are reported.

This law does more to hurt business, especially small business, than help them.

Other critics are also quick to point out that since many of the spam messages we all currently receive do not originate in Canada, the new laws do not apply, which means we will still receive the messages and no penalties will be laid.

It will be now up to other countries — the countries from where those spam messages were sent — to review and enforce the laws if they even want to pass a similar law in their countries.

No, this new law is simply more overkill from a federal government that has lost touch with average Canadians and really has no clue what they are doing. Does anyone remember the long gun registry fiasco? Déjà vu perhaps?

For more information on the new CASL regulations, see fightspam.gc.ca