Porter Airlines Allegedly Violates Canada’s Anti-Spam Law
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The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) continues to take action against companies violating the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL).
Porter Airlines Inc., a Toronto-based, regional carrier, has been fined for violations that occurred between July 2014 and April 2015. They have agreed to pay a $150,000 penalty.
Alleged Violations
The airline allegedly sent some commercial emails that failed to comply with various requirements of Canada’s anti-spam legislation. Citing a transition to a new email platform as what led to the errors, Porter was unable to provide proof of consent from each email address that received its commercial emails. Some email messages allegedly did not contain, or clearly contain, a mechanism to unsubscribe to the emails. Porter also allegedly failed to honour requests from some recipients to unsubscribe.
“This case is an important reminder that to be fully compliant with the law, proof of consent is required for each electronic address. Some businesses are under the mistaken impression that they are compliant with the law by relying on general business practices or policies as proof of consent for the majority of the electronic addresses to which they send their commercial emails,” said Manon Bombardier, CRTC Chief Compliance and Enforcement Officer. ”This is simply not the case.”
[box]To learn more about CASL, which came into force on July 1, 2014, visit http://fightspam.gc.ca/eic/site/030.nsf/eng/home[/box]
In addition to the fine, the CRTC says, “Porter Airlines will improve its existing compliance program to ensure that its activities, going forward, are fully compliant with Canada’s anti-spam legislation.”
Other CRTC Investigations
Porter Airlines Inc. becomes the first high-profile company to be fined. Last year, online dating website Plentyoffish Media Inc. agreed to pay a $48,000 fine and corporate training company Compu-Finder was fined $1.1 million by the regulator.
The CRTC continues to assess complaints and encourages Canadians to report spam to the Spam Reporting Centre.
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