Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Spam Act a mixed bag

With very little fanfare the Can-Spam Act of 2003, an American anti-spam law, came into effect south of the border. This new law has been hotly debated by both sides of the issue.

With very little fanfare the Can-Spam Act of 2003, an American anti-spam law, came into effect south of the border. This new law has been hotly debated by both sides of the issue. Some believe it will reduce the quantity of spam while shackling spammers with a set of regulations and standards. Others believe it essentially legalizes spam, and will only drive spammers to other countries where the rules don’t apply.

Like truth in advertising laws that, among other things, force pharmaceutical companies to list of all of the possible side-effects of their products in commercials, the new Can-Spam Act demands more accountability from U.S.-based spammers. All e-mails will have to conform to the rules, or you could face federal fines, censure and even imprisonment.

Among other things, a span e-mail should give the recipient the ability to say whether or not they would like to receive any further e-mails in the future. If the recipient wisely opts out then the spammer has to remove their e-mail address from their list.

In addition, every unsolicited e-mail should include a functioning return e-mail address, information on the identity of the spammer, and a physical address where the spammer can be reached.

The new law also takes away the right of victims of spammers to sue, with state and federal authorities now in charge. Only Internet Service Providers will have any civil recourse.

For all of Can-Spam’s flaws, at least the U.S. is taking the issue seriously. No legislation has been tabled in Canada as yet (just a failed Public Members Bill) which means that most American spammers are probably going to use us as a home base for their operations until we can get our asses in gear.

The leading Canadian anti-spam group is CAUCE, or the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email at www.cauce.ca. If you want to get involved, even just to sign a petition in favour of anti-spam legislation, this is a good place to start.

3D chipmakers face off

Most people are aware of the ongoing battle between Sun Microsystems and Microsoft over the Java programming language (they kissed and made up early this month after Microsoft agreed to pay $1.6 billion, and now say they will work together as best of friends). Most people would also know something about the stiff competition that’s evolving between Microsoft and Linux-based operating systems, Intel processors and AMD processors, Hotmail and Google, Yahoo and Google, Dell and HP, cable and DSL broadband services… the list goes on and on.

The battle between 3D graphics chipmakers has been under the radar, but with most computers pulling double-duty as multimedia centres these days it could turn nasty.

The winner of course is always the consumer who benefits from lower prices, higher-power hardware, and the battle of innovation. The winner of this battle will see its graphics processors adopted universally by computer makers, while the loser will have to go back to the drawing board to come up with something even better.

The two companies in question are Nvidia and ATI, both of which are preparing to unleash their lastest on the market. Both cards increase 3D rendering power for more realistic rendering and movement, which in turn allows for more interactive gameplay.

Nvidia is betting the farm on its new GeForce 6 family of 3D chips. Nvidia recently lost its Xbox contract to ATI for refusing to come down in price.

ATI is looking to retain its recently gained marketshare with a new Radeon 8600 chip which they say will have all the capability of the GeForce 6 at a lower price.

The exact specs of these two cards remain secret, and their true value will likely only be recognized by serious gamers who don’t have a problem dropping $500 for better graphics capability. Still, that’s a pretty big market, and the competition to win it will have some interesting side benefits. Home users will be able to render their own 3D images without frying their circuits. Movie makers will have even better chips to make movies with, increasing the realism of 3D effects – imagine a Gollum who sweats or a Finding Nemo that can be directed in real time. The medical industry is also looking at 3D modelling as a teaching tool and for more advanced diagnostics.

For more information on what a good graphics card can do for you, visit Nvidia at www.nvidia.com or ATI at www.ati.com.

Online sales in Canada near $20 billion

2003 was a good year for Canadian online retailers, according to a report from Statistics Canada released last week.

Sales were ahead 40 per cent of 2002 figures, with total revenues of $19.1 billion. Between 2001 and 2002, Internet sales grew 27 per cent.

Private firms accounted for the vast majority of sales, about $18.6 billion of the total, which still represents just seven per cent of all private sector business.

Most of that business, about $16.6 billion of the total, is domestic, which StatsCan attributes to the continuing spread of broadband Internet in Canada within the private sector. Currently about two-thirds of all companies have broadband connections and business-to-business sales – supplies, raw materials, services, travel, shipping – accounted for $13.1 billion in sales. Export sales decreased to $2.4 billion last year from $2.9 billion the year before, which likely reflects the higher dollar and a weak U.S. economy.

The domestic consumer market was about $5.5 billion, with $1.9 billion going to retail.