The federal government has a role to play in stopping spam from clogging Canadians' e-mail inboxes, federal Industry Minister Maxime Bernier said Sunday in Saskatoon.
Bernier said he has just received a copy of a 2005 report assembled by the National Spam Task Force, which recommended the government institute an anti-spam statute.
“The report that I received, it told me yes, we have a role,” Bernier said. “I just want to be sure that the thing that we're going to do, it will be something that will solve the problem. The question is, what can we do? And I'm not sure right now. Maybe the market will decide in the end.”
Two weeks ago, Bernier had come under fire from one of the technology consultants on the task force, who said the minister has “ignored” the report.
One U.S. consulting firm estimates unwanted e-mails result in $20 billion lost productivity a year around the globe from the irksome task of deleting the messages and installing spam filters.
“I have the opportunity to look at this report from a big group of experts and they ask us that we as a government can do something,” Bernier said.
The minister said he's in the process of evaluating the report and its recommendations, and will respond within the next couple of weeks.
Over the past two years, the amount of e-mail spam produced in Canada has dropped thanks to the privacy law, according to a July report by anti-spam software producer Sophos.
The Personal Information Protection Electronic Documents Act treats e-mail addresses as personal information that cannot be used or shared without the individual's consent.
However, spam is now estimated to comprise 40 to 70 per cent of Internet traffic.
Bernier was attending the Canadian Chamber of Commerce's annual general meeting in Saskatoon.
