Canada’s new anti-spam law apparently has teeth: $1.1 million worth, Canadian.
Today the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission), Canada’s equivalent of the FCC, fined the company Compu-Finder for breaking Canada’s anti-spam law. CRTC says Compu-Finder sent emails without the recipient’s consent, as well as messages “in which the unsubscribe mechanisms did not function properly.”
While the fine is based on only four alleged violations between July and September, 2014, the CRTC statement says analysis of complaints to its Spam Reporting Centre shows Compu-Finder accounts for 26% of all complaints in its industry sector.
Compu-Finder’s emails are said to have pitched training courses to businesses on topics such as management and social media. It has 30 days to contest the fine or pay the penalty.
“Despite the CRTC’s efforts, Compu-Finder flagrantly violated the basic principles of the law by continuing to send unsolicited commercial electronic messages after the law came into force to email addresses it found by scouring websites,” says Manon Bombardier, CRTC’s chief compliance and enforcement officer.
Under the law, which went into effect last July, commercial messages sent to email, text message and social network accounts require the permission of the recipient. CRTC says a number of other investigations are underway.
