D'oh, Canada!: Suspension of Canadian Parliament Stalls Canada's Anti-spam Law

Canada's proposed anti-spam law (aka bill C-27, the "Electronic Commerce Protection Act") was apparently just days away from becoming law when Canada's Parliament was suspended (or, more accurately "prorogued" on December 30th, 2009).

As a result, the anti-spam legislation (as well as 37 other bills) will now need to restart the process of approval.

Both Web Host Industry Review and itbusiness.ca have good articles on this subject at the following URLs:

WHIR: "Canadian Government Prorogation Stalls Anti-Spam Law"

itbusiness.ca: "Anti-Spam Bill at Risk after Parlaiment Suspended"

itbusiness.ca also has a good overview of some of the other controversies surrounding the proposed anti-spam legislation, including a video overview here: http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=54851.

Longtime spam watchers will no doubt have seen those "Canadian Pharmacy" spam email messages promoting cheap Viagra and other medications. Turns out there's a legitimate Canadian pharmacy with a very similar name that gets a lot of hassle due to those messages. Check out the amusing article here: "Canadian Pharmacy Spam - a Nightmare for Legit Firms." (again, courtesy of itbusiness.ca)