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CRTC Issues $1.1 Million Penalty To Compu-Finder For Spamming Canadians
zentigger writes Canadians rejoice! It looks like the new anti-spam regulations might actually have some teeth! Today, the CRTC issued a $1.1 million fine to Compu-Finder for violating Canada's anti-spam legislation by sending commercial emails without consent, as well as messages in which the unsubscribe mechanisms did not function properly. Furthermore, an analysis of the complaints made to the Spam Reporting Centre of this industry sector shows that Compu-Finder accounts for 26% of all complaints submitted.
The robo-calls make me very, very angry.
So when my private right of action privilege comes into force in 2017, can I get $1.1M from fuckwads like these?
Given the depth of surveillance performed by CSEC and the NSA, I think it's been *proven* that telcos could *easily* detect and block the sources of robo-calls, too.
My guess is the robo-call companies pay them big bucks to harass everyone, so the telcos have no motivation to do shit about the problem.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
wow, they must've lost the whole weeks coffee money. only tee for the next week!
I signed up for that when it first came out and have been getting more calls since --- both (semi) human and robo --- than I ever did before?
We as a society waste too many resources on people who should simply be exterminated. The spammers, pop up trojan idiots, etc should just be destroyed but I guess that's the difference between real leadership by men and worthless democracy.
Considering all the different spammers out there, it's hard to imagine any single entity getting 26% of all complaints. Somebody must have been really out to get them, or there must not have been that many complaints submitted. From the quick glance I did, I couldn't determine how many complaints they got, or how many emails this company sent out. They probably would have not gotten such a big fine if their unsubscribe links worked.
I'm from Canada, and as much as I don't like spam, I think that this goes a bit too far. Spam filters are so good now that I rarely see spam in my inbox, and anything that isn't caught can easily be blocked by a filter. This may stop a few companies within the country from sending out emails, but the vast majority of spam comes from outside the country, and this law can't protect against that. It really makes it difficult for small companies to verify that they comply with the regulations. When even companies like Microsoft stop sending out important emails, because there's no way to verity that they have consent for the emails they are sending out, then there's not much the small companies can do to cover themselves if somebody was to complain.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Canada,
While you are at it, please deal with UBM for spamming us countless times without any easy way to unsubscribe from their stupid emails and magazine promotions!!
Anon Coward
You need a $1.1M fine, spammer.
Sadly it's in Canadian dollars, so all those extra zeros are basically pointless.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
They don't account for a quarter of spam reports. From the CBC article:
"Compu-Finder was flagged for investigation as it accounted for more than one quarter of the spam complaints received that were related to training companies."
These Companies make 10x that amount in a given week... This may as well be pocket change to them.
Considering that they cost and scam people out of hundreds of millions of dollars per year (The sum total of these types of Companies) why not just bankrupt them and repay the money they swindle people out of? Oh, thats right, because the world is run by banker nazis now... Screw it, Chop off all the fingers, toes, and tongue of any scammer convicted... Stop that BS REAL QUICK!
But frankly, I'd hold the applause until after the penalty is collected and Compu-Finder is actually disbanded. Because frankly, it's a hollow victory if they move, change their corporate name, hire a fictitious body of corporate officers, and resume where they left off.
They're frakking spammers. What makes anyone think this bureaucratic announcement actually will matter?
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
These blocking features come "free" w/my phone subscription w/TWC. When I complained about a robo calling number it wouldn't let me block (because it was "invalid") TWC referred me to nomorobo.com. It seems they work w/some providers to block these calls. You get the advantage of automatically blocking a wider pool of numbers. The drawback is that the phone will ring once since they block after the connection's been made.
By fining Google half a billion dollars for allowing discount Canadian pharmacies to advertise on it.
I'm hoping that the Paul administration makes the federosaurus pay Google back every dime they stole on behalf of Big Pharma, with penalty interest.
... if it costs one penny (or some other pricing scheme) to send each email.
The fee would be tacked on the ISP's bill, much like a tax, and would go to the government toward litigation costs for prosecuting spammers.
That simple change would kill spam.
I have to think of everything.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.