A program (spider, bot, crawler) on the Internet that gathers e-mail addresses to send spam to. There are countless e-mail addresses on Web site "contact us" pages as well as on blogs and newsgroups. Since they are typically coded in the "mailto" format, which when clicked, causes the address to open an e-mail message window, they are easily located (see mailto:).
Preventative Measures
In order to prevent a spambot from automatically identifying an e-mail address, some Web sites print the address as text and not a clickable mailto: link. Another maneuver is to spell out the symbols with the words "at" and "dot;" for example, "joe at computerlanguage dot com." This requires the user to correct the address by inserting the @ sign and period before sending. A more elaborate approach is to make the address really obtuse (see e-mail obfuscator). See spam, form spam and bot.
Preventative Measures
In order to prevent a spambot from automatically identifying an e-mail address, some Web sites print the address as text and not a clickable mailto: link. Another maneuver is to spell out the symbols with the words "at" and "dot;" for example, "joe at computerlanguage dot com." This requires the user to correct the address by inserting the @ sign and period before sending. A more elaborate approach is to make the address really obtuse (see e-mail obfuscator). See spam, form spam and bot.
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2008 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- Net Applications data for July 08 released - Good month for Mozilla, not so good for Apple
- Net Applications data for July 08 released - Good month for Mozilla, not so good for AppleThese...Net Apps, W3 Counter, XiTi and One Stat.It's not so much 'trusted', it's just I'm kind of loate to take one view of the world when the methodology behind how these sites count OS...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-01
- Can fighting registrars win the spam wars?
- Can fighting registrars win the spam wars?When is someone a registrar?When is someone a registrar? www.GoDaddy.com has a reseller program called Wild West Domains or something similar. For about $100 anyone can become a "registrar" through this program, with a website, etc., indicating the person is a registrar. ...
- Discussion threads 2008-06-10
- Why MinWin speculation matters
- Why MinWin speculation mattersPresumably......Windows CE will continue to exist as a separate product, but future versions would use the MinWin kernel. I would find it hard to believe that MS would maintain multiple Windows kernels if they didn't have to.UNIX-like is more shrinkableBoth Linux and Mac OS X easily...
- Discussion threads 2008-06-04
- Mac users - Secure or smug?
- Mac users - Secure or smug?I see the "Vote" code ....... has been "upgraded". It nows zero % on the first vote.Anyway, the real question is what can be attacked on a Mac or a Linux box as most distros force you into a standard user account that has very...
- Discussion threads 2008-03-06
- How lucrative is pump-and-dump spam?
- How lucrative is pump-and-dump spam?Maybe go after the ZombiesIf your computer is Zombied, it can be tracked down, and your ISP absolutely blocks your computer until it is "fixed". For Zombied machine's elsewhere in the world, could not the worlds backbone apply the same filtering. Become a Zombie,...
- Discussion threads 2007-03-09
- Net neutrality push expected to resume in Congress
- Net neutrality push expected to resume in CongressBSI just answered to this story in another forum.See: [url=http://talkback.zdnet.com/5208-1035-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=28736&messageID=535927]More Net Neutrality BS?[/url]eBay signed? What a bunch of hypocrites!!!!I am so infuriated with eBay I want to shout it from the roof tops! Their new policies this year keep average people like myself...
- Discussion threads 2007-01-02
- Vonage HQ receives threatening letter with powder
- Vonage HQ receives threatening letter with powderVonageThe Vonage I know does not use the best of business practices so it does not surprise me and I think it was only a matter of time.A couple of years ago, I went to the Vonage site, saw what they offered, backed out...
- Discussion threads 2006-12-14
- E-mail gangs bombarding Britain with spam
- E-mail gangs bombarding Britain with spamBritain has computers?I am in shock that they have computers, much less internet access!Maybe they will run and hide now.Is it possible to identify the "bot" computers???If so, can't the ISP's just shut off their access until they clean up their act (get the crap...
- Discussion threads 2006-11-27
- FTC shuts down four spam rings
- FTC shuts down four spam ringsI hope this will teach spammers a lesson:Send unsolicited messages with unwanted advertisements and sexual images without labeling via the use of "zombie" / "spambot" PCs and you will have to pay anywhere from $5,000 to $500,000.Four down - forty million to go...Unless the FTC...
- Discussion threads 2006-09-14
- Nick Carr breaks down the evolution of Office suites
- Nick Carr breaks down the evolution of Office suitesDon't under estimate Google either. They for sure have a team working onthe offline problem as we speak. They need to build a mini web server into Firefox to cash online applications for offline use, and automatically re-sync files on re-connect.They are...
- Discussion threads 2006-09-14
- OfficeMax bids farewell to mail-in rebates
- OfficeMax bids farewell to mail-in rebateship-hip-hooray , somebody got a clueafter loosing rebates on a cell phone and a harddrive i am overjoyed.Alright .... about time the consumer complainedThis has been the biggest consumer ripoff ever. You look in your flyer and see something for a good price in LARGE...
- Discussion threads 2006-06-30
- Implementing Captcha Validation With OWA 2003 and Forms-Based Authentication
- The word 'Captcha' stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. Most World Wide Web users will have seen this kind of test in the form of a picture of a word usually distorted, which the user must type into an input box to prove...
- White papers 2006-04-27
- Making Wikipedia better, Part II
- Making Wikipedia better, Part IISure, like I have that much time...Mr. Ratcliffe makes a huge assumption in his article, which is that anyone has the time to actually research these things. Let's look at some of his ideas:* The reader should investigate the change history of an article. Even with...
- Discussion threads 2006-01-05
- Microsoft to release fixes for Windows flaws
- Microsoft to release fixes for Windows flawsMicrosoft to release fixes for Windows flawsIf there is one thing you can count on Microsoft doing, its being consistent. These latest patches show that with MS's monthly releses. One more patch means we are that much more secure. This is...
- Discussion threads 2005-09-08
- Siriusly Speaking
- From the Gillmor Gang vanity feed: ...
- Blog posts 2005-08-28
- Sender ID's fading message
- Sender ID's fading messageWorthless?"About 84 percent of those authenticated messages were spam". We've calculated that closer to 90% of the SenderID, SPF authenticated messages we receive is Spam - but let's say it is 84%. So authentication alone is worthless."If we can get to a place where a...
- Discussion threads 2005-08-09
Neighboring Terms
Premier Vendor Content Whitepapers, webcasts & resources from our Power Center Sponsors
- Access the latest Intel and industry best practices
-
Designed specifically to address the concerns of senior IT managers at organizations with more than 100 employees, the Intel Premier IT Professional Program provides best practices via local and e-Seminars and a members-only Web site.
- View the Intel Premier IT Professional web-site tour >>
-
-
Tasty Baking’s new LEED factory
0:57
Tasty Baking CIO: Brendan O’Malley
-
Balancing act: innovation vs. reliability
1:28
Facebook VP of technical operations: Jonathan Heiliger
-
Securing data at E-Loan
1:47
E-Loan CIO: Jay Shah
-
When crops are scarce
1:47
Del Monte Foods CIO: Marc Brown
- View all CIO Vision Series Videos »
