I'll be quick.
Good afternoon to our distinguished members of Parliament. Thank you for inviting us to speak with you today.
My name is Matthew Vernhout, and I am here on behalf of CAUCE, the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email. In my professional capacity, I am the director of privacy and industry relations for the email analytics firm, 250ok; the chair of the Email Experience Council's advocacy subcommittee; and an active member of the global email community.
I participated in the drafting of America's CAN-SPAM Act, and I had the pleasure of speaking to this committee in support of CASL in 2009.
I have published dozens of articles, been quoted in the press, spoken at numerous industry events, and consulted with some of North America's top brands regarding CASL compliance. In fact, one of the comparative benchmark reports I authored for ISED was recently cited in the CRTC's decision on the constitutional challenge by Compu-Finder.
The positive effects of CASL on the email industry are remarkable. I'm delighted to say analysis finds the email industry thriving and experiencing significant growth. Businesses ensure they have recipient consent, and they are seeing the positive benefits of those actions. A common trend has emerged from several published reports in the last three years: more messages are delivered to Canadian consumer inboxes post-CASL, due to better list management practices and consumer trust. A recent industry report shows that two countries with the toughest anti-spam legislation, Canada and Australia, also have the best deliverability of commercial emails to inboxes in the G8 nations studied.
The basic framework of CASL is a series of email marketing best practices that have been the basis of most of my consulting efforts over the last 17 years: ask for permission, honour opt-outs, and be clear as to who you are and why you're sending the messages. CASL has taken these ideas and made them the law of the land.
As my colleague stated, CASL is working to diminish spam. Moreover, it is working to make legitimate email marketing more successful and more effective. There is far too much baseless fear, uncertainty, and doubt being spread by the naysayers of CASL, many of whom are neither anti-abuse nor marketing professionals.
When I speak with marketers about their compliance efforts and the challenges they face to make their digital marketing compliant, I hear, “This is a lot of work, but it's not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be.”
However, we still have a long road ahead of us. The spam reporting centre receives 6,000 complaints per week, totalling more than one million complaints since 2014. For example, blacklist operator SURBL notes that there are currently 70 “.ca” domains spamming counterfeit goods targeting Canadian consumers. There are also active spam gangs set up on hosting providers in Montreal, Hamilton, and Vancouver.
Regarding the PRA suspension, this renders CASL toothless. The PRA should be revisited to allow network operators who carry the cost of spam to avail themselves of redress.
In closing, it is our hope that the law remains a strong and viable tool to protect email marketing, networks, and consumers from unwanted spam messaging. Canadians, like all consumers, deserve nothing less.
Thank you.