Privacy advocate Michael Geist has nothing good to say about Bill C-37, Canada’s Do Not Call legislation. He believes the bill has been so watered down that it will be ineffectual.
The US Federal Do Not Call List now has more than 90 million subscribers. Despite the public’s enthusiasm for it, I haven’t seen any hard data yet on how effective it’s been. Historically, research has shown that do not call lists tend not to be effective. For instance, the AARP, who have been tracking this issue for some time, have shown that as many as 60% of those who signed up for state level do not call lists still continued to receive unwanted solicitations.
An army of investigators, and bureaucrats in Washington is not an effective way to handle complaints arising from the 19.2 BILLION telemarketer calls made every month in the US. Is there any reason to believe that the situation in Canada would be different?
What’s needed is a technology solution — the equivalent of a spam filter for your telephone. Stay tuned…
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
