Wheeling, IL — April 14, 2008

For the past five years, e360 has been fighting for its right to send legitimate email messages to its customers and online registrants.  During this time, we have committed ourselves to operating responsibly and above legal standards and requirements. Our industry is extremely competitive and we are constantly challenged to offer products and services that meet the needs of consumers and our clients. Because we only get paid when a consumer registers for information or purchases products, we have no interest in sending email to anyone who does not want to receive it.

What is missing in this ongoing debate is the simple fact that e360's customers want to receive email from us. When they do, our revenue goes through the roof. In the instances when our messages are unimpeded, gross revenue and productivity per message increase dramactially. This simply would not happen if our customers did not appreciate the value of our marketing messages. Given this empirical evidence, it is difficult to conclude our email messages are unwanted. The data suggest exactly the opposite is true.

As a for-profit enterprise, e360 is heavily incentivized to send messages that are desirable, relevant and of great value to its customers. When we are successful in doing so, our customers reward us by voting with their pocketbooks. Similarly, it is not in e360's interest to harass our customers with objectionable email messages. In our e-commerce business, our customers frequently tell us they love our products and want to receive MORE of our promotional messages so they can benefit from some of the best deals on the Internet. Unfortunately for these customers, nearly 90% of them are unable to receive the messages they have requested due to interference by third parties.

In spite of this evidence, some blacklist operators and anti-spam vigilantes continue to assert e360 is a spammer.  As any email marketer knows, being called a spammer, of any kind, is the kiss of death.  Anti-spam vigilantes, both foreign and domestic, are fully aware of the devastating impact of these assertions.  That is precisely why unfounded allegations are made - to destroy any business they do not like, for any reason, justified or not.

Since Spamhaus first listed e360 and Dave Linhardt on its ROKSO list, we have faced an uphill battle trying to demonstrate the legitimacy of our business. In the marketplace today, there are literally hundreds of third parties who assume the role of sole arbiter in deciding what emails other people should receive.  As you might imagine, few of these "elite" organizations were willing to give us the benefit of the doubt.  Commonly-used email blocking tools like www.spamhaus.org, the NANAE usenet group and lone vigilantes are not operating in a fair or impartial manner in our experience.  Many have falsely accused us of sending Viagra ads, letters from the Nigerian President and using ip's that have never been in our control or in the control of those with whom we do business.  In our opinion, none of these groups or organizations provide due process, transparency or any evidentiary standards whatsoever.  If you are a spammer, it is because they say so and often times for no other reason.  We believe it is not in the interests of consumers, businesses or the government to allow clandestine, underground organizations to wield so much power over the U.S. economy.

Over the past few years, e360 has become aware of the intimate connection between improper blacklisters, fanatical anti-spammers and U.S.-based internet service providers (ISP's).  ISP's, many of whom have previously employed or worked with e360 and its founder, provide blacklist organizations with financing and data and encourage nefarious behavior in the name of fighting spam. In our opinion, ISP's who provide email services have strong incentives to block email, but little incentive to deliver it.  These companies operate under a cloak of invincibility and without the knowledge and consent of the consumers for which the email messages are intended. In our experience, we believe this power is regularly abused to the detriment of legitimate marketers, the U.S. economy, and American consumers.

To fulfill its responsibilities to its clients and customers, e360 pursued its legal options seeking a fair and impartial review of the issues at hand.  As previously stated, e360 has had difficulty delivering email messages to Comcast, a confirmed Spamhaus customer and user of at least five other email blocking and filtering technologies.  This issue came to our attention when one of our customers did not receive her back-order-notification message for the two Minnesota Vikings chairs she ordered on our website.  Apparently, Comcast blocked this message because they thought it was spam.  As a result, the customer did not receive her order in time for her son's birthday. She called to complain and despite our reassurances concluded, "It must be your fault, I'm getting email from other people."

Whatever your definition of spam, we are unaware of anyone who believes a back-order-notification message would qualify.  This is precisely the reason we started investigating Comcast and eventually filed our claim against them.

On April 10, Judge Zagel issued his ruling on Comcast's motion for judgment on the pleadings.  We respectfully disagree with the Court's ruling. We are appealing the decision and more information will follow in the appeal.

For the millions of consumers who have signed up to receive our messages and the tens of thousands who have purchased our products, we believe the email messages they have requested should be delivered for as long as they want to receive them.

Dave Linhardt
President & CEO
e360Insight, LLC