Social Media, since the early days of services like Myspace and Yahoo 360, through to the modern sites like Facebook, Linked in and Google Plus have all worked using a basic common theory.
The site works better with more contacts
To make this concept work a simple premise was put into action. Users were able to upload their contact lists to servers for a cross check of their friends. If your friend was already on the service a button is offered to let you request a friendship, however if they were not, then you could invite them to join.
A decision in Germany (
Article ) has now put this very concept at risk as a Judge has upheld two prior decisions that found Facebook's Friend Finder feature illegal on the grounds that sending a invite to join is unsolicited electronic communications (or as it is more commonly known as, Spam).
Now, at first though, one might be wondering just why a ruling in Germany is of any concern to a user of Social Media in Canada. This is a honest and fair question to be wondering, the answer, however is going to most likely surprise you as it comes down to one law currently in place in Canada
C.A.S.L.
CASL (
info ) stands for the Canadian Anti Spam Law, which came into service in July of 2014, and actually holds people accountable with fines for reported unsolicited electronic communications. the fines are tired so that if the average consumer or privately owned business is reported to the CRTC and can not prove implied or express consent has been given up to $1,000,000.00 is issued. If the communication is from a Corporation the amount goes up to potentially $10,000,000.00 per violation.
As the ever evolving nature of the Internet continues to change, so to will laws like CASL, and decisions like the one made in Germany are going to be looked at as road maps into how these type of services are handled in relation to the future of User Privacy on a Global scale.
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