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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.
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.
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?
In all likelihood, yes. Setting up something to scour for email addresses and sending bulk mail costs pennies. If they get even a 0.01% return on their emails (i.e. 1 out of 10,000 people falling for it) they still pull in tons of money.
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.
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.
Crime is usually the result of lax penalties. Make it so it's not worth the punishment already!
I'm not anti-social, I'm anti-idiot.
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.
The caller-id squirt happens after the first ring, so they can't block it before the second.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
... 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.