ran into millions of quality email/names from an employee at my company (legally!)

The list is so old, I am not sure I would be too quick to jump on it.

You also don't know the source of the lists, so that would also be a problem for me.

I cannot speak to the ethics or legality of using such a list.

First of all, where did he get the list. Did he steal it from your company? If so, I wouldn't touch it.

Secondly, unsolicited email isn't legal in the US unless you include a bunch of personal/company information about yourself in the email as well as provide an unsubscribe so if you decide to go ahead with it, just be very cautious in what you write in your email copy.

Try to get as much more information about those lists and see if it is a good investment.
I think the more information you collect will determine if there is any legal issues in your way.

Six months is considered old for an email list?

lol you guys have very funny responses!! haha! Everything here is legal completely. I deal with certain IT people that often have tons of older stuff he is given full permission to do whatever he wants with, which includes a lot of databases. So he has just scrapped together a huge amount, which is complete legal. What are you going to tell me, to know the name and email of someone is illegal? If perhaps it has sensitive info, but this is legal and he would never include any sensitive data, only data that would be useful for marketing. However the question is how to properly proceed.

One thing is for sure neither one of us would ever want any data to fall into any spammers hands!

I have people email me all the time randomly, sometimes good things come of it. Emailing to a specific group of people is not spamming, spamming is spamming. Offering great value to someone and giving them the future option of continuing to receive it would not be considered spamming for example.

I have worked in ethical IT for over 15 years and its a joke to hear the idea of obtaining large lists of basic user data and trying to make some use out of it as a bad thing... Please. If someone went out and over a year collected many good email addresses of people interested in something I have, it is legal to email them and ask them anything I want. Its legal to do anything you want practically as long as its not spamming or phishing or something else 'evil'.

you can legally email people and offer them to opt out of any future email.

Any data is with a friend who is not even anywhere close to Canada. It seems in Canada and the US you need a lawyer to see if there is a safe way to utilize something like this. Its sad such good data may go to waste.

and I asked him about how he aquired it and since he is a system admin he has been collecting it for sites he has been running and being the admin of over years. So if he is in the US or Canada it seems to be illegal. I just find this very hard to believe. What is the difference between this and selling 'accounts' of facebook etc which is really the same thing in fancy wrapping. A list of targetted people that you bought from someone's hard work...

Legally: you can email someone out of the blue, as long as you have an unsubscribe option, that's not spam. Disclaimer: I'm no lawyer, this is only personal opinion, etc

Ethics: I won't go there.

Profits: (the most important aspect!)

From a profit perspective, I wouldn't touch this list. I do permission-based marketing, and I'm moving more and more towards only dealing with people who like to get emails from me (and therefore like to buy from me!). When people like me, and like to buy from me, it makes my life easier. I'm all about being lazy while earning.

What you're planning to do is called "mass mailing" aka "spamming" - legally it might not be, but to get advice on how to do this, you would have to visit certain dark corners of IM. And I can tell you (I have dodgy friends, lol ) that setting this up, getting it working, making money, etc - it's not that easy. Permission based marketing is much easier.

I would really advise you not to do this. You can buy email lists just about anywhere. Your ROI will be much, much better if you spend your money elsewhere.

Your friend might be able to sell these lists in the certain dark corners I mentioned. But those guys are experienced, know what they're doing and have the setup. And they'd know what the list is really worth.

You say "it's sad that such data may go to waste". I'm sure your friend will find a way to profit by selling to those experienced guys.

Trust me: when it comes to waste, you will waste more time, effort and money by trying to get this working. It's like buying a broke car for $500 because it's a bargain, then spending $5000 and a month's worth of work trying to get it running.

Like everyone in here already said, I wouldn't even touch the list it doesn't have a direct relationship to you at all and they don't know you.

There are also other reasons why I wouldn't touch for reasons fellow warriors have mentioned above.

It is amazing how many folks here have no idea about an industry called "lead generation". The term "we promise not to sell your email address" is never uttered in this industry. It is a GIVEN that your name will be sold, rented, or leased if you provide it to a lead generator. This is not illegal or unethical. It is a business.

MILLIONS of businesses utilize lead generators every day. Without knowing where the leads the OP is talking about came from, you should not pass judgment about the legality or moral ethics of buying and selling these leads.

Leads are a commodity. They always have been and always will be. The "I don't like it so it must be illegal" mentality has no place here.

Just be sure to comply with the Canspam act.

Having said that, you likely don't have high quality leads here. I wouldn't pay much if I were you. Mind you I generate my own lists and always have.

Now you have relationship marketing which is far more effective.