What to do about Spam

See our webpage on Spam for tips and information. The Canadian government is finally realizing that action is needed to stem the tide of unwanted email. Industry Canada, through its Electronic Commerce Directorate, is taking the lead on spam policy at the federal level. The federal Task Force on Spam released an Action Plan in May 2005 with many good recommendations, but the federal government has yet to act on it. You can also write to the Minister of Industry (minister.industry@ic.gc.ca) or to your MP, urging them to act on the issue. You can also complain about specific spam messages to certain government agencies:

• The Competition Act prohibits misleading advertising. The Competition Bureau accepts online complaints about deceptive spam.
• The Privacy Commissioner also accepts complaints about personal information collected, used and disclosed through commercial spamming activities without your consent. E-mail addresses that can be linked to you constitute "personal information" under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. You can complain about such activities to the Privacy Commissioner.
• The CRTC continues to have jurisdiction over telecommunications and broadcasting, and could initiate proceedings at any time to consider regulation of spam. Complaints can be made to the CRTC.