Unsubscribe Mechanisms Must Work Under CASL

Our good friend Peter Murphy, Partner with Shibley Righton LLP and expert in privacy law weighs in on the recent CRTC fine for Rogers Media. If you are a marketer who is interested in understanding exactly what CRTC is looking for, join Dana-Lynn Wood, Advisor, Enforcement, CRTC and DMAC on Feb 9th in Toronto. Learn more

Here's what Peter had to say:

" News that Rogers Media Inc. was fined $200,000 by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is a warning that companies doing business in Canada must ensure email unsubscribe mechanisms are compliant with anti-spam legislation, says Toronto technology and business lawyer Peter Murphy.

Murphy, who specializes in privacy, data protection and anti-spam, as well as technology law, says this most recent fine issued by the CRTC under Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation(CASL) highlights CASL's requirements for unsubscribe functions.

The CRTC states the apparent violations stretched from July 2014 to July 2015, when consumers found emails came with an unsubscribe option that wouldn’t function properly and wasn't valid for the requisite 60 days.

Murphy, partner with Shibley Righton LLP, says while the CRTC’s press release doesn’t go into extensive detail, it is clear that Roger's unsubscribe mechanism was at issue. He tells AdvocateDaily.com that under CASL, the action of unsubscribing must be readily performable.

“This means if you click ‘unsubscribe’ you should be presented with a simple electronic opt-out mechanism, such as being taken to a landing page where you can unsubscribe without any barriers,” he says. “It has to be straightforward. If, for example, you are required to enter a password before opting out, that would probably not be considered readily performable under the legislation.” Read entire article