Bill C-28: Would the real monster please
step forward
I've spent the past couple weeks pouring over websites, blogs and the actual C-28 legislation (Anti Spam Legislation) and am at loss to figure out who the real monster is here.
The easy answer is, "The monsters are the spammers."
Those faceless people who sit behind their computers and find ways to
"trick" their way into your inbox, fill it up and go on their merry way
to do it again, day-after-day.
I
personally burn at least 30 minutes a day deleting spam off my laptop,
Blackberry and Ipad. That's 3 1/2 hours per week and 182 hours per year.
Oh what I could do with an extra 7 1/2 DAYS a year! Not to mention the
cost for anti spam products and dealing with potential:
- malware (malicious software like viruses),
- spyware (programs that collect personal information through illicit access to computer systems),
- spoofing (email that sends you to counterfeit business websites to defraud individuals and businesses), etc.
Yes, the easy answer is the spammers are the monsters and I agree, they are. But after researching Bill C-28 I think the Bill itself is a different breed of monster.
Bill C-28 is most certainly well intentioned and I welcome anything that will give me some spam relief, but according to SecureList,
analysis of spammers, "Canada and the US combined have the 2nd lowest
level of spam by region globally in the first half of 2011, accounting
for less than 2% of all spam."
Co-author of the book, "The Canadian Privacy and Data Security Toolkit for Small and Medium Enterprises",
and President of Informatica, Claudiu Popa explains: "In our company,
almost 100% of all spam originates in other geographic jurisdictions.
This means that close to 100% of all reports will be of foreign origin
and pretty much 100% of the agencies' work will be a complete waste of
time and resources, since this system will do little to nothing in the
way of punishing international emailers, fraudulent Facebook posters,
spimmers, spitters or any other overzealous marketers."
Julie King, co-founder and president of Biz-Zone Internet Group Inc., says, "multinational
corporations and international organizations operating outside of
Canada will continue to utilize email and electronic messaging to
market to Canadian consumers, without penalty."
I could go on- and on- citing experts, referring to the legislation and
getting wrapped up with the controversy of it all but the fact is, it's
coming and we DO need to be prepared.
To help you understand and prepare we've put together two tools for you.
1. Bill C-28 Anti Spam Legislation Demystified: Highlights of some of the key points of the legislation.
2. Bill C-28 Readiness Checklist: This is not legal advice but will give you a starting point to help you get ready.
If you need more info or want help getting ready give us a call, 204-475-3307 or email, info@dubytscom.com.
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