This isn’t the first time we’ve addressed Canada’s increasing concern for personal privacy and data security, as expressed in legislation. In particular, the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (hereinafter “CASL”) has finally come into effect, and we’re learning about it as Canadians, and those who advertise to Canadians spend time with the CASL.
CASL impacts those who use electronic and digital marketing and acts to protect Canadians from the impacts of spyware, phishing and the like. Violations are expensive, and therefore, companies were on the ball when CASL came into effect this June. If you’d like more information on CASL, please see our post “Coming to Canada this Year: The National Anti-Spam Law.”
Networking
Consent can be obtained from word-of-mouth and conversations carried out on the phone or in person. Part of sealing the deal with these requests for commercial information is to obtain all of the requisite information for valid consent in the form of an email after the conversation.
Referrals
CASL allows a company to send one commercial electronic message as a referral. This must include the name of the person who referred the company to the individual. The referring individual and the company must have an existing business relationship, and this relationship must be made transparent to the person obtaining the referral.
Social Media
Consent to advertise can be obtained through social media. Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest are crawling with companies wanting to advertise. If an individual gives consent on a social media platform, the consent is limited to that social media platform. Messages posted on the public face of the platform are not under the jurisdiction of CASL, but private messages are.
Recording Consents
Because CASL requires that a company obtain consent before advertising to someone, the company must be able to prove that consent was obtained. This is easily proved when permission is obtained online or in written form, but permission can also be obtained by oral consent. In these cases, it is recommended that an email be sent after the conversation verifying that consent was given to advertise to them.
These are just some observations made by those engaging with the CASL so far. If you require more information about that CASL and your business in particular, please contact our team at DPOAdviser today.