Porter Airlines hit with fine for spamming customers

Canadian carrier Porter Airlines has agreed to pay a $150,000 fine for flouting anti-spamming laws.

The carrier acknowledged it had violated rules and did not provide an option for customers to unsubscribe or did not clearly display an opt-out.

"Certain emails also allegedly did not provide the complete contact information as required by the law," a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission statement said.
 
"Porter Airlines also allegedly failed to honour, within 10 business days, requests from some recipients to unsubscribe from receiving future commercial emails."

Porter Airlines spokesperson Brad Cicero said the violations, which took place between July 2014 and April 2015, went unnoticed as it had recently changed over to a new email platform.

"It was a very small percentage of the database we have. When we found out, we made the changes," Cicero said.

"Some businesses are under the mistaken impression that they are compliant with the law by relying on general business practices or policies as proof of consent. This is simply not the case. " the CRTC added.  

This is the third case brought by the Commission since new anti-spam laws came into effect last year.
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