KAYLA CARD
NEWS REPORTER

The federal government’s bill that aims to protect Canadians’ inboxes from spam has upset some businesses, said Kevin Adams, Humber’s associate director of information technology.
Bill C-27, or the Electronic Commerce Protection Act, was introduced last spring and is making its way through parliament.
The bill will limit the amount of access businesses have to consumers by requiring consent before sending commercial e-mail.
“A lot of businesses are annoyed,” Adams said. “They don’t want to get consent, they want opt-out features, but they have that already.”
“It’s frustrating. They have links where you can go ‘to get off this list,’ but I didn’t ask to be on it in the first place and even if I do, they will just put me back on it,” he said.
“Spam is a good tool to advertise,” said Vishal Singh Negi, computer and network support technician student, “but it creates a lot of ‘mail pollution,’ I get a lot – 1,016 e-mails, all spam.”
According to the bill, spam is considered to be unwanted commercial mail sent to consumers by businesses online.
The bill states some exceptions from the regulations including personal and business-to-business e-mails. The government and collections agencies are also excluded, among others.
Businesses can also rely on implied consent to e-mail existing customers or people they have been in contact with.
Cassandra Martin, a first-year practical nursing student, is skeptical about how effective Bill C-27 will be at preventing spam e-mail. Spammers will “find another way,” Martin said.

Photo by Kayla Card
Vishal Singh Negi, computer and network support technician student, sorts through his spam.