Oxylabs Signs an Exclusive Contract with Honeygain

Lithuanian proxy provider Oxylabs has announced an exclusive partnership with Honeygain, a crowdsource web intelligence network. The Honeygain app allows users to gain passive income in exchange for traffic. It’s available on most platforms, including Windows, Android, and macOS. 

The contract aims to reinforce Oxylabs’ commitment to ethical IP sourcing and use in an effort to become the most ethical end-to-end data gathering solution. To quote Oxylabs’ CEO Julius Cerniauskas:

“We are very proud to have Honeygain as the main source of residential proxies, and look forward to a successful continuation of our partnership in the future. 

Together we share a common vision to create an ethical and balanced proxy service ecosystem, where all parties are treated fairly and are equally rewarded. Also, we hope that our example will inspire others to pay attention to the legitimacy and transparency of residential proxy sourcing. It is our firm belief that only when ethics are taken seriously by everyone, the industry can fully restore the public trust in web data gathering practices.”

Today, Honeygain reportedly is one of the few applications in the market that scores an A+ rating in the Lithuanian provider’s self-devised ethical framework. 

According to Oxylabs, the Tier A+ category is hard to find among residential proxy providers because ethical onboarding and management of residential proxy network participants requires constant effort. One of the biggest difficulties lies in familiarizing end-users with proxy service practices, which requires the business to take up the role of an educator. 

In a second quote, Julius Cerniauskas also hints competitor practices as part of the reason for the partnership:

“Upholding the highest standards of ethics in the residential proxy acquisition is our top priority. We are extremely proud to strengthen Oxylabs’ long-lasting partnership with Honeygain.

Partly, the move to secure the exclusivity contract was encouraged by the disheartening events in the industry. We want everyone to understand that the unethical actions of the few do not reflect the attitudes, values and behaviors of everyone. Oxylabs’ relationship with the public, our valued partners, and residential proxy network participants is built on trust, and we will continue to prove it with bold action, not just words.”

Honeygain’s straightforward sell-your-traffic model is perhaps the most ethical way to acquire peer-to-peer residential IPs. Proxy SDKs still suffer from discoverability issues, and far from all providers impose strict standards against abuse. So, while Honeygain isn’t the only such app (PacketStream comes to mind), the partnership marks an important step toward legitimizing proxy networks.