[ale] (no subject) SPAM talk...

[ChangingLINKS.com]

1.  > Moreover, the ALE - HAS A MIRROR - that has implimented a solution.
> Where is this mirror?
> -Jim P.

2. > Re: [ale] (no subject) SPAM talk...  (Dow Hurst,  Fri Apr 16 21:41:34 
2004)
>I've missed the info on the mirror.  Where is it and how can it be used?
>Dow


The mirror is *already* operational at "ike.room17.com"

proof:
http://ike.room17.com/pipermail/ale/20031017/002150.html

This issue is being re-hashed, see:
http://www.ale.org/archive/ale/ale-2004-02/msg00012.html

The server simply obfuscates the email addresses thusly:
text: groups at ChangingLINKS.com 
hyper link: ale%40ale.org?Subject=%5Bale%5D%20printing%20through%
20router&In-Reply-To=200310170031.12176.groups%40ChangingLINKS.com

Can spammers figure out how to harvest the email from that? Sure.

Will they harvest it? I strongly doubt it. In short: Spammers are programmers, 
have access to programmers (or buy ready made spamming software). And writing 
such code would take *time* which increases cost. Aside from the virus/
cultural spammers, the ones that desire to make a profit realize that 
incurring the cost to harvest obfuscated email addresses is NOT going to 
bring significantly more profit than simply harvesting un-obfuscated ones.
It takes more time to harvest obfuscated email addresses, takes longer to 
write the program to slog them and the result is an email address that is 
more likely to produce flames than profit. Typically, spammers will shy away 
from email addresses that are less profitable including but not limited 
to .gov and .edu addresses. I am not saying that spam doesn't get delivered 
to these addresses, rather I am pointing out the economics of the marketing 
campaign. Also, for those of you that don't know, many of the spam programs 
are written with filters so that the spammer can remove entire domains, .gov 
and .edu addresses. This economic theory also undermines the rumor that 
spammers have low wage HUMAN workers scouring the Internet for email 
addresses. Unlikely. A 486DX can slog faster than a room full of humans.

Further, if the ike server doesn't go far enough in it's obfuscation - it is 
clear that it would not take more than 30 minutes to configure it to 
obfuscate more than it does. Obviously the programmer who wrote the mirror's 
code felt the amount of obfuscation was sufficient.

Anywise it is a much better position offering up our email addresses like 
this:
http://www.ale.org/archive/ale/ale-2003-04/msg00986.html
-- 
Wishing you Happiness, Joy and Laughter,
Drew Brown
http://www.ChangingLINKS.com