In defense of Constant Contact, they are in the business of sending out mailings for people, they are not themselves spammers. They perform a service and they do it as best they can given the circumstances in which they work.
I have used them to send out mail to mailing lists of a non-profit organization that I help and also used it during the previous presidential campaign. All the addresses were collected via people coming to the website, typing in their address, getting an email from constant contact and clicking on a "yes, I want to sign up for this list" link. All mail was sent out with a return address that went to a real person, and every message contained a link to get off the mailing. This is required by Constant Contact. Secondly, if you unsubscribe using the unsubscribe link, Constant Contact does not let that address be mailed to again unless it is re-opted in by signing up again and the person clicking on the opt-in link. Constant Contact keeps track of complaints and when it gets above something like one or two per thousand they cancel the account. If you are getting spam via them, you should send it to their abuse department. They do take the reports seriously. And by the way, from time to time I receive what surely looks like spam via Constant Contact. I save all my mail. I went back and searched and sure enough, it *was* something I signed up for but had completely forgotten. A simple click of their unsubscribe link and no more of that. I would not personally give mail from Constant Contact a higher score just because it originated from there. The likelihood is the message is ham, most likely the user forgot they opted like I did, or perhaps someone is abusing Constant Comment. Michael Grant
