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Maybe, but not on purpose. Nasa goes to great lengths to sterilize probes going to Mars. http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/technology/is_planetary_protection....

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If Musk's Mars colonization plans come to fruition, all that trouble NASA went to sterilize their Mars probes will be for nothing.

Private parties still have to comply with planetary protection treaties. In fact any colonization plan, or even commercial flight, to Mars (or anywhere else in the solar system) from SpaceX needs to be approved by the US. It's not a free for all out there, space is governed by treaties.

That's a big hurdle to colonization and commercial exploitation. Because it means you have to show you're not contaminating alien life.

I would be really excited if we find traces of life on Mars but, at the same time, it would probably delay commercial exploitation and colonization for decades...

They'll have to comply, but they will probably cut corners.

It depends what the US allows them to do, the same way you cannot legally "cut corners" with FDA regulations.

Obviously you cannot sterilize astronauts. But they could be restrained to landings outside of the special regions, which are the most promising for astrobiology.

Assuming the commercial operator is in the US. China might cut some red tape.

China is bound by international treaties the same way.

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