Bill S-202 explained in plain English

Bill S-202 would prohibit sending commercial electronic messages (spam) without recipient consent and establish penalties for violations including address harvesting, phishing, and dictionary attacks.

Bill S-202, titled the Anti-Spam Act, would regulate commercial electronic messages in Canada. The bill would make it illegal to send commercial emails, text messages, or instant messages advertising products, services, or business opportunities without the recipient's consent. The bill establishes several key rules. First, commercial electronic messages must clearly identify the sender, include accurate header information, and provide easy contact details. Messages must have a truthful subject line and include a working unsubscribe button that recipients can use for 30 days after receiving the message at no cost. Certain organizations would be exempt from consent requirements, including political parties, registered charities, non-profit groups, educational institutions (when messaging current or former students), and people with existing business relationships with the recipient. The bill would also ban specific harmful practices: collecting email addresses automatically using harvesting software, sending messages to addresses created by combining random letters and numbers (dictionary attacks), and creating fake websites to trick people into sharing personal information (phishing). The bill imposes a legal obligation on people who benefit financially from spam advertising their business to take reasonable steps to prevent it and report violations to law enforcement. The bill creates criminal offences with significant penalties. Non-individuals (corporations) face fines up to $500,000 for a first offence and $1,500,000 for repeat offences. Individuals face fines and imprisonment: up to $500,000 and two years in prison for a first offence, and up to $1,500,000 and five years for subsequent offences. The bill would also allow people harmed by spam to sue in court for damages, including compensation for financial losses and punitive damages. Telecommunications service providers could refuse service to spammers or block spam messages. The bill would come into force 30 days after receiving royal assent.