Fight spam, but protect legitimate media activity, federal review is told

The House of Commons industry, science and technology committee has been told by Magazines Canada that Bill C-27, the Electronic Commerce Protection Act -- the so-called "anti-spam" act -- needs to be modified to remove potential impacts on the Canadian magazine publishing industry. While it agrees that e-commerce needs to be regulated, unwanted spam needs to be managed without unduly restricting reasonable online media consumption.

Specifically, in a letter to the clerk of the standing committee which is studying the bill, the national association says that

• Legitimate business activity shouldn't be unnecessarily hindered by the bill. This includes allowing communications with "communities of interest" or people who are likely to have a legitimate interest in a product or service -- things such as direct mail solicitations for magazine subscriptions.
  
• "Request circulation" should be recognized as a legitimate business model, an important circulation method used by the sector -- acknowledging that this is an allowed business arrangement, whether or not a fee is charged to the recipient.
• The burden of fighting spam should rest equally on international publishing competitors. Not requiring the limitation of spam on foreign-originating publications (principally from the U.S.) would give them a significant economic advantage. Mags Can says it needs to be ensured "that we do not, through this legislation, simply silence Canadian voices while the tsunami of foreign spam continues unabated". (While MagsCan didn't say so, there are parallels here with blue box regulations in some provinces, where domestic publishers pay for their contribution to recycling burdens, but international publishers flout the law.)