CAUCE

CRTC Publishes Regulations, another step towards CASL coming into Force

Happy Canada Day from the CRTC

As anticipated, the CRTC took a long-awaited step towards Canada's Anti-spam Law coming into force; regulations designed to help define the scope and impact of the law were published late afternoon, June 30. They are available in their full form here: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2011/2011-400.htm

They are quite terse, coming in at less than 440 words. CAUCE will comment here in due course, but for your instant gratification, here they are:

The proposed regulations prescribe the form and certain information to be included in a CEM. They establish that a CEM must set out information that identifies the sender of the message and, if different, the person on whose behalf the message is sent, as well as, if applicable, the names of those persons’ businesses. The CEM is also to include information that would enable the recipient to readily contact such persons. Further, the proposed regulations prescribe that this information, as well as the unsubscribe mechanism, be set out clearly and prominently.

The proposed regulations also specify a particular form by which information relating to the sender of the message and the unsubscribe mechanism may be accessed, in circumstances where it is not practicable to include such information in a CEM, for instance, because of character limitations.

Section 6 of the Act prohibits the sending of a CEM unless there is express or implied consent from the recipient of that message. Section 7 of the Act prohibits, absent express consent, the alteration of transmission data in an electronic message which results in the message being delivered to a different destination. Section 8 of the Act prohibits the installation of a computer program unless express consent has been obtained. The Commission’s proposed regulations prescribe the form of a request for express consent for the purposes of subsections 10(1) and 10(3) of the Act. More specifically, the proposed regulations stipulate that any request for express consent must clearly identify the person seeking consent and, if different, the person on whose behalf consent is sought, and, if applicable, the names of those persons’ businesses. In addition, it is proposed that contact information be included for such persons, and further, that there be a requirement to include a statement which states that consent may be withdrawn using the contact information provided.

The focus of the final segment of the proposed regulations is the installation of computer programs in the course of a commercial activity, which, as noted above, is addressed in section 8 of the Act. The proposed provisions prescribe that additional information be provided when requesting express consent if a computer program that performs a function set out in subsection 10(5) of the Act is to be installed. In such circumstances, the proposed regulations prescribe the manner in which the computer program’s material elements must be brought to the attention of the person from whom consent is being sought, and further establish that the person seeking consent must obtain a written acknowledgement from the person from whom consent is sought that they understand and agree that the program performs the specified functions.

MAAWG Honors Internet Volunteer Neil Schwartzman With First MAAWG Mary Litynski Award

News Release

For Immediate Release        

 

MAAWG Honors Internet Volunteer Neil Schwartzman

With First MAAWG Mary Litynski Award

San Francisco, June 16, 2011 – Recognizing the value of one person’s effort to generate positive change in the messaging industry, the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group presented its first annual MAAWG Mary Litynski Award to Neil Schwartzman at its 22^nd general meeting on June 8 in San Francisco.  The award acknowledged Schwartzman’s extensive volunteer efforts working against spam for the last twenty years, and the presentation can be viewed on the MAAWG YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/MAAWG?feature=mhee

A messaging compliance consultant, Schwartzman has served on the Canadian Federal Task Force on Spam and is a founding member and currently executive director of CAUCE, the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email, an international all-volunteer consumer advocacy organization working to defend the interests of the average Internet user.  He is secretary of the MAAWG Public Policy Committee and involved in several of the association’s other projects, and is active in other industry organizations including the London Action Plan (LAP) and the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG).  Schwartzman also worked toward the passage of the new Canada Anti-Spam Law (CASL).

“Neil reminds us that backing down from the challenge of messaging abuse is not an option for those committed to maintaining an open and effective Internet.  He brings energy and expertise to our community, with a passion and concern that rises above his own personal interests,” MAAWG Chairman Michael O’Reirdan said.

According to Schwartzman, “Industry collaboration is the only way, to my mind, that we can effectively deal with spam. There is no silver bullet. A unified strategy involving cross-sector industrial cooperation, technologists and public policy advisors – providing a seat at the table for all stakeholders – is the proven way forward.”

The award was named for Mary Litynski, who worked tirelessly to serve MAAWG members since the organization’s founding in 2004 and who passed away in 2010 after a courageous battle with cancer.  The honor was initiated in her memory this year to recognize an unsung industry hero who also works behind the scenes to make the Internet a safer place for all.

About the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG)

The Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) is where the messaging industry comes together to work against spam, viruses, denial-of-service attacks and other online exploitation. MAAWG (www.maawg.org) represents more than one billion mailboxes from some of the largest network operators worldwide. It is the only organization addressing messaging abuse holistically by systematically engaging all aspects of the problem, including technology, industry collaboration and public policy. MAAWG leverages the depth and experience of its global membership to tackle abuse on existing networks and new emerging services. It also works to educate global policy makers on the technical and operational issues related to online abuse and messaging. Headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., MAAWG is an open forum driven by market needs and supported by major network operators and messaging providers.

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Media Contact: Linda Marcus, APR, 714-974-6356, lmarcus@astra.cc, Astra Communications

MAAWG Board of Directors: AOL; AT&T (NYSE: T); Cloudmark, Inc.; Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA); Cox Communications; Facebook; France Telecom (NYSE and Euronext: FTE); Openwave Systems (NASDAQ: OPWV); PayPal; Return Path; Tata Communications (NYSE: TCL); Time Warner Cable; Verizon Communications; and Yahoo! Inc.

MAAWG Full Members: 1&1 Internet AG; Adaptive Mobile Security LTD; Apple Inc.; Cisco Systems, Inc.; Constant Contact (CTCT); Edatis; e-Dialog; Eloqua; Email Sender and Provider Coalition; Experian CheetahMail; Genius.com; Internet Initiative Japan, (IIJ NASDAQ: IIJI); McAfee Inc.; Message Systems; Scality; Spamhaus; Sprint; Symantec; Trend Micro, Inc.; and YouSendIt.

A complete member list is available at http://www.maawg.org/about/roster

CAUCE Director Neil Schwartzman Wins Prestigious MAAWG Award

CAUCE Executive Director Neil Schwartzman won the prestigious Mary Litynski award on June 08, 2011 for his contributions to Internet anti-abuse efforts, including the passage of Canada's Anti-Spam Law. Here is his acceptance speech.

This is not the first award I've received from the MAAWG community. A few years ago, at a meeting in Washington, D.C., I received an honorary doctorate when recognized me as Dr. Evil. At the past meeting, at Disney, you honored me with a t-shirt branding me as Grumpy, from the Seven Dwarves.

As much as I treasure those memories, this award is very special to me.

Mary Lytinski was a warm, helpful, friendly person. It is nice to see that MAAWG is applying these criteria when deciding a suitable winner of the award in her name.

Seeing Mary at the registration desk was our opening ritual three times a year, and her greeting -- no matter how busy -- told every attendee that this was going to be a good meeting. Mary's contribution to our community and our cause cannot be measured.

I can’t begin to express my gratitude for this award, named in honor of our old friend; I am profoundly humbled, particularly when we consider the roster of others in our community undeniably as deserving of recognition.

My contributions to the Internet community, like that of so many others, began as a volunteer. To some, that might be a puzzling thing, to do something without financial recompense. To others, most in this room, it is the most natural thing of all.

There are a number of reasons why I try to embody a spirit of volunteerism. For one, my mother volunteered her time throughout her life. She undoubtedly passed this aspect on to me.

When I got online in 1992, the net was largely non-commercial. There was no world wide web. It was all about text, and community spirit, and volunteered contributions. Even when employees of a commercial entity worked on standards or software, it was with humility and a sense of collaboration, of building the Internet together.

The commercialization of the net has brought with it some astounding, wonderful new technologies and contributions to our global society. I am able to write to my friend, one of the happiest people I’ve ever met, a peasant girl named Shandy, who lives in rural China, because she has a Hotmail account. A far-flung community was able to express our love and support for our friend and colleague J.D. Falk, by way of Facebook, and email, and AOL Instant Messaging. Perhaps most profoundly, an offshoot of Google, 23andme, allowed me to reconcile with my biological mother, sister and brother, this past weekend after 50 years.

These are the things that motivate me to voluntarily advocate for the anti-abuse community. Because along with all these commercial offerings, there is still a fundamental, precious human element, a drawing together of the global village that criminals, if we let them, would rend asunder. There is still real, honest human communication -- that abusers sully. This human element is the magic intrinsic to the Internet, and something that must be protected. It isn’t just about email systems being spammed, and websites under ddos. It is what they represent -- the people, the data, and the ability to communicate -- that we strive to protect.

The DNA of the Internet, the vast majority of underlying technologies and protocols, were dreamt up and realized by volunteers. Grassroots, volunteer anti-abuse efforts such as my organization, CAUCE, many of the DNSBLs, discussion groups -- all manner of efforts to stave off the wolves at the door, nearly all done on a voluntary basis or as a contribution to the community.

And then there’s MAAWG.

While most of us are paid to be here, involvement in MAAWG can take up a tremendous amount of time. It often encroaches into one’s personal life, or one’s ability to accomplish the balance of our paid work, in effect, MAAWG is very much run by people volunteering of their time, expertise and brilliance.

And so, I accept this award on behalf of all the volunteers past, present and future, my peers and my betters, with the hopes that our work is properly honouring the person for whom this award is named, our dear departed Mary Litynski.

Thank you.

Introducing the Inbox Project

For many years, the Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII) has been a premier source of reference information about laws in the US and elsewhere. One day last year, LII director Tom Bruce and CAUCE president John Levine were talking over breakfast, and noted that there was no authoritative online source of legal information about spam and e-mail, something that the LII and CAUCE are, together, uniquely qualified to create. The Inbox Project is a new section of the LII web site, meeting that need.

We intend for it to be comprehensive, growing to cover not just spam-related state and US law in the United States, but laws in countries around the world, since spam is a global problem. It will be authoritative, researched and written by well-qualified students at the Cornell Law School, with advice from CAUCE. And it will be stable, with an ongoing process to keep it accurate and up to date. The project currently covers US and Canadian law, with case law and laws from other countries added as the students research and analyze them.

This work is funded independently from CAUCE and the LII's regular budget by several generous organizational sponsors. We'll have more to say about them when we formally announce the project next week.

But in the meantime, point your browser at http://www.inboxproject.org where there's already a lot to see.