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Businesses Should Prepare for Canada’s New Anti-Spam Legislation

Canada's anti-spam legislation (CASL) will come into force on July 1, 2014.

Designed to protect Canadian consumers from spam and other online threats, CASL will, among other things, prohibit the:

• sending of “commercial electronic messages” (CEMs) without the recipient’s consent
• installation of computer programs without the express consent of the owner of the computer system
• use of false or misleading representations online in the promotion of products or services
• collection of electronic addresses by the use of computer programs or the use of such addresses without permission 
• collection of personal information through accessing a computer system in violation of federal law, and
• alteration of transmission data in an electronic message which results in the message being delivered to a different destination without express consent.