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CRTC fines Porter Airlines $150,000 for alleged anti-spam violation

Porter Airlines has agreed to pay a $150,000 over allegations it...
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Canadian National Railway Co., McMillan LLP, regulation, social media, Stikeman Elliott LLP, Looming anti-spam law touches off flurry of email

Porter Airlines has agreed to pay a $150,000 over allegations it violated Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL).

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced Monday (June 29) it had been investigating the Toronto-based carrier regarding concerns over commercial emails.

The CRTC alleged Porter Airlines did not have an unsubscribe option included in its commercial emails and the carrier did not comply with requests from some recipients to unsubscribe within 10 days. In certain instances, the CRTC said Porter Airlines did not provide proof it obtained consent from recipients for its commercial emails.

The alleged violations occurred from the time CASL went into effect in July 2014 until April 2015.

Porter Airlines is the third business to be fined since the anti-spam laws were implemented.

Vancouver’s PlentyOfFish agreed to pay $48,000 in March for similar violations as Porter Airlines. That same month Compu-Finder was fined $1.1 million after the CRTC said the Quebec company was responsible for more than one quarter of all the reports of spam the commission received.

In a tweet, telecommunications analyst Mark Goldberg questioned the CRTC's priorities going after Porter Airlines.

"When we think of spam, does Porter top anyone's list?"

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@reporton