[boost] Re: [OT] Whether and how to obfuscate email addresses inposts, docs & code

From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-07-03 13:24:14

"Andreas Huber" <ah2003_at_[hidden]> writes:

> Peter Dimov wrote:
>> Andreas Huber wrote:
>>> 2. What do other people think about a voluntary boost standard for
>>> obfuscating email addresses published in posts, docs & code?
>>
>>> 3. If you think 2. is a good idea then what is a good way to
>>> obfuscate email addresses? Is the simple <at> & <dot> approach
>>> sufficient or do we need something that is less common (and thus
>>> prone to automation)? E.g. WHATah2003EVER_at_[hidden] with a remark to
>>> remove all capital letters?
>>
>> Don't bother. Your address is probably already harvested. See for
>> example
>
> Right. ah2003_at_[hidden] is a disposable address. I'd definitely disable it and
> create a new one, which I would then publish only obfuscated.

It's very strange, since we have this option enabled in Mailman:

  obscure_addresses (privacy): Show member addresses so they're not
  directly recognizable as email addresses?

  Setting this option causes member email addresses to be transformed
  when they are presented on list web pages (both in text and as links),
  so they're not trivially recognizable as email addresses. The
  intention is to prevent the addresses from being snarfed up by
  automated web scanners for use by spammers

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
http://www.boost-consulting.com