By Monica Sharma and Kelsey Marshall, Articled Student
Canada’s anti-spam law (“CASL”) outlines violations, enforcement mechanisms, and penalties aimed at protecting online consumers against spam, electronic threats, and misuse of digital technology. CASL’s anti-spam rules came into effect on July 1, 2014. CASL’s software update and installation rules came into effect on January 15, 2015. The latter rules are often referred to as malware/spyware computer program rules. Under these rules, CASL applies when a person, in the course of a commercial activity, installs or causes to be installed a computer program on any other person’s computer system, unless the person has obtained the express consent of the owner or an authorized user of the computer system.
The Canadian anti-spam law (“CASL”) came into effect on July 1, 2014 and includes the ability to levy severe administrative monetary penalties of up to $10 million for one violation of CASL. In March, 2015, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (“CRTC”) gave its first indication on issuing penalties and addressing violations of CASL by rendering two decisions dealing with CASL violations.