A story on the more than 1,000 spam email complaints reaching the CRTC made one reader wonder aloud if Ottawa could better spend its time addressing more important issues than spam.

“CASL (Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation) is an expensive waste of our time. It serves to handcuff the Canadian self-employed entrepreneur and professional alike,” wrote Brian O’Neill, on the article ‘Spam email complaints surpass 1,000: CRTC.’ “Meanwhile the sellers of fraudulent Viagra, the purveyors of malware, spyware and destructive PC viruses, and the Nigerian princes awaiting their Swiss bank legacies are beyond the scope of Canadian law. Ridiculous. This government has lost its way.”

According to Manon Bombardier, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) chief compliance and enforcement officer, more than 1,000 complaints have been filed within the first few days of the new law taking effect on July 1.

“We have received a number of complaints, and the numbers will keep going up for sure,” says Bombardier, “but really for us the positive message is Canadians are seeing the importance of the legislation and they are reporting (spam) to the CRTC as the mechanism allows them to do.”

The new law requires that businesses get written or oral consent before they send emails or other digital messages to consumers. Companies must also clearly identify themselves in each message and allow consumers to unsubscribe from digital mailings.

Those companies violating the law could face financial penalties of up to $10-million per violation, while individuals could be fined up to $1-million per infraction.