Why would we censor electronic communications that are completely legal in paper form?
This question continues to trouble me.
I received mail at my cottage last week – advertising that was addressed to me. I don’t have a mail box. All of my utility bills, tax notices etc. are sent to my home. But the post office delivered the mail to my neighbour who handed the junk mail to me.
So, some company bought a mailing list and sent me an addressed letter advertising specials that I might be interested in. Sure, it is junk mail. But there is nothing fraudulent about it. The advertiser is a real company. I didn’t ask to be on their mailing list, but I opened the letter and even thought about whether I might be interested in their product.
The direct mail piece was completely legal.
But if Canada’s Electronic Commerce Protection Act [an Orwellian named bill] gets re-introduced and passed, I find it bizarre that we will have a class of otherwise legal communications forbidden – censored – just because it is in electronic form.
It isn’t spam: this isn’t a case of mail that is trying to hide the identity of the sender; or, trying to sell illegal goods; or, misrepresent the product. All electronic communications that aren’t specifically requested will be banned. So much for encouraging businesses to lower their costs through an electronic equivalent of direct mail.
We have so many people who argue that we should not censor electronic communications that are illegal in paper form. Where do they stand on the issue of bannishing electronic transmission of legal communications?
I continue to wonder how this provision of the Electronic Commerce Protection Act is really going to encourage electronic commerce.
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All these rules and regulations about sending out mail electronically is getting ridiculous. I receive junk mail all the time, if I hated that much I would get some software to block it, its part of being a presence on the web. It’s hard enough to write consistently popular newsletter emails and blogs and now have to watch how we publish it on the web, its going to far. Businesses finally have a way of marketing for a lower cost and now regulations are going to restrict. I hope this Act does not have much of an influence on the U.S.