Personal information and electronic message laws in Canada and the USA

Activity Messenger abides by laws governing personal information and electronic messages in Canada and the United States.

# Electronic message laws in Canada and the USA

• United-States CAN-SPAM Act: In the USA the FTC provides a comprehensive FAQ to help you understand CAN-SPAM. Read it here:
  https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business
• Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL): The CRTC provides an excellent FAQ to help you understand CASL. Read it here:
  https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/com500/faq500.htm

The laws governing electronic messages in Canada and the United States have 4 main considerations:

# 1 - Intent of the message

The laws apply to commercial messages (with marketing intent). For example promotion of next season's program is considered a commercial message. Available spots at day camp as well.

The laws do not apply to transactional or relational messages. For example notifying participants a class is cancelled, or sending them an account statement or receipt does not count. Survey questions are also not considered commercial.

Activity Messenger does not provide means to manage the intent of messages you create. Parents and participants that unsubscribe from notifications by your organization do so for any intent. Activity Messenger does however provide you with tools to manage unsubscribes. Consult the help page Bounces, complaints, unsubscribes and bad numbers for details.

# 2 - Consent

It is your organization's responsibility to obtain consent from your participants. If you are using a registration platform like Amilia, consent was already given when the participant registered to the activity or program, or when they subscribed to a membership or service.

Activity Messenger assumes that participants you import and send messages to have given you consent.

# 3 - Identification information

Emails you send must contain your identification. Activity Messenger puts your address in the footer of emails. The From will always be the name of your organization as well. SMS messages are signed with your organization's alias. Consult the help page Organization and Brand Information for details.

# 4 - Unsubscribe mechanism

Both laws require that you offer clear and easy ways to unsubscribe. Activity Messenger provides different means for participants to do that. Consult the help page Managing notifications for details.

# Personal information

Activity Messenger provides tools for you to collect personal information to conduct your business and operations. The collection and storing of personal information must be executed in the respect of the law in your jurisdiction. Please consult our Privacy Policy and Security document to learn more.

Canada

Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PEPIDA)

PIPEDA applies to private-sector organizations across Canada that collect, use or disclose personal information in the course of a commercial activity.

• https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/privacy-topics/privacy-laws-in-canada/the-personal-information-protection-and-electronic-documents-act-pipeda/pipeda_brief/

Québec

Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector

Law 25 amends the Privacy Act in Québec to offer more protection to citizens. Consult this guide to understand your obligations as an organization using Activity Messenger to conduct business.

• https://www.cai.gouv.qc.ca/documents/CAI_Guide_obligations_entreprises_vf.pdf

# Data breach

In the unlikely event of a data breach defined as the loss of, unauthorized access to or unauthorized disclosure of personal information resulting from a breach of an organization’s security safeguards, Activity Messenger will take appropriate measures to:

• Take measures to resolve the data breach
• Contact the organization account owners to inform them of the data breach and measures that were taken

Contact us at support@activitymessenger.com if you would like to have more information.