MainSleaze

Apparently ESPs Eloqua and Marketo are partnering with a list seller and email appender, NetProspex. NetProspex is not unknown to me or others who are active in email abuse issues. Among other accomplishments, NetProspex has managed to attain a listing in the Spamhaus Project’s ROKSO, their list of the “worst of the worst” spammers. Laura Atkins at Word to the Wise, a well-known email deliverability expert, blogged about NetProspex a few years ago. Nothing I know suggests that her blog is in any way out of date.

Unfortunately, the story appears to be true:

• NetProspex Home Page
• NetProspex.com: Eloqua Connector
• NetProspex.com: Marketo Connector
• Motley Fool: NetProspex Partners with Marketo…
• Spamhaus: NetProspex ROKSO Listing

I’ll make my position clear. If Eloqua and Marketo send email to lists provided by NetProspex, then Eloqua and Marketo are spamming, as are the Eloqua or Marketo customers that mail to any of these lists. If it were not for Eloqua and Marketo being major players in the legitimate bulk email business, this bit of news would not qualify for inclusion on the Mainsleaze blog because by our standards, NetProspex is not offering a legitimate product or service.

I should not have to say more than this, but perhaps somebody who reads this blog does not already understand that sending bulk email to purchased lists, email appended lists, or any other type of opt-out list constitutes spamming. NetProspex offers lists of email addresses for sale, and email appending services. These services constitute spam support.

If Eloqua or Marketo was unaware of this activity, they need to deny the allegations on the NetProspex home page and in the press release sent to the Motley Fool and other industry news sites now.