>Mark is quite correct when he says that complex e-mail harvesters will >probably work around these methods, but it appears that most of the >harvesting is done by very basic programs that are looking only for e-mail >addresses stored in conventional format.
Indeed, Alan, as I mentioned: "However, any programmer worth his salt will simply run a recursive loop and trap for either ..." "There is no 'secure' format because if a browser can display it, a programmer can read it. But it'll keep the kids at bay :o)" There is no doubting professional harvesters will easily circumvent the obfuscation. This is a damage limitation exercise. In this war of attrition, any counter-measure is better than none. A 'What's the point attitude' is defeatist. ----------------------------------------------- Mike Pepper Accessible Web Developer (with shares in Anadin) www.seowebsitepromotion.com ----------------------------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Alan Harrison Sent: 04 June 2004 08:42 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [WSG] Anti-spam mailto encoders using Character Entity Evasion I have been using the obfuscation method for some time now, and while it may not totally eliminate spam harvesting, IMHO it certainly does slow the harvesting down. I have used the javascript method also, with the addition of a gif displaying the e-mail address for folks that have javascript disabled. I have found this to be effective also. Mark is quite correct when he says that complex e-mail harvesters will probably work around these methods, but it appears that most of the harvesting is done by very basic programs that are looking only for e-mail addresses stored in conventional format. > Guys hate to rain on your parade but if your browser can > understand that obfuscation what makes you think that a email > address harvester is not going to be able to? > > These guys are writing complex viruses that harvest email > addresses directly from people's Outlook contact lists, > surely they can understand a little javascript and work with > character entities. ***************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ***************************************************** ***************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help *****************************************************
