Encrypting email addresses in source code

9 posts by 5 authors in: Forums > CMS Builder
Last Post: October 2, 2008   (RSS)

By gkornbluth - July 29, 2008

The CMSB records for my client's web site contain an e-mail address field that gets inserted into a membership directory web page.

I’ve been trying to find a method to encrypt the e-mail addresses that appear in the source code of the membership directory web page so that they can’t easily be harvested by bots.

I’d still like to allow a user to click on the e-mail link to open their e-mail client.

So far I’ve only found very cumbersome single address only solutions.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Jerry Kornbluth
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Re: [gkornbluth] Encrypting email addresses in source code

By Dave - July 29, 2008

Hi Jerry,

I'm not sure about that one. It's tricky because in order for the user to be able to click on it and send an email the browser needs to be able to get the email address, and if the spam parsers implement a browser (and/or javascript engine) they can get the same thing.

There's this: http://mailhide.recaptcha.net/ but users need to enter some words to display the email.

I've thought about writing a PHP module that could be included on the top of any PHP page to automatically replace emails with images or some encoded version. Then than could be used on any PHP page at all. If there was interest in that as a script we could look at writing that.

Hope that helps!
Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com

Re: [Dave] Encrypting email addresses in source code

By gkornbluth - July 29, 2008

I think that there's probably a great deal of interest but no one really knows where to start.

Security and privacy have become major issues of late.

I think it would be great if you got the ball rolling.

Could even be a mini product idea...

Jerry
The first CMS Builder reference book is now available on-line!







Take advantage of a free 3 month trial subscription, only for CMSB users, at: http://www.thecmsbcookbook.com/trial.php

Re: [gkornbluth] Encrypting email addresses in source code

By Dave - July 30, 2008

Ok, I did some research and it seems feasible. There's a number of encoding methods that still maintain accessibility and usability but make it harder for bots to get the emails.

A couple questions:

Is anyone else interested in script that would allow you to add a single tag to the top of a php page and automatically encode all emails on that page to prevent spambot harvesting?

And if we had a one-time unlimited website license (you pay once and can use it on all your sites, but can't resell it directly or give it away) what could we charge, or what would you (forum visitors) be willing to pay?

Let me know and maybe we can put something together.
Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com

Re: [Dave] Encrypting email addresses in source code

By gkornbluth - July 30, 2008

Since you asked, and since your entire program sells for $139.95, I think somewhere in the range of $20-$25 would be OK. (kind of a thanks for putting this at the top of your list)

This probably wouldn't pay for a lot of development time, but it would certainly reinforce that idea that security is a major concern that's taken seriously at InteractiveTools.

Jerry
The first CMS Builder reference book is now available on-line!







Take advantage of a free 3 month trial subscription, only for CMSB users, at: http://www.thecmsbcookbook.com/trial.php

Re: [gkornbluth] Encrypting email addresses in source code

By Michael Blake - July 30, 2008

If it were an unlimited use lifetime payment then I would suggest that $50 is a decent price but if requiring a lot of hours to develop then even $100 would be fair.

Mickey

Re: [Michael Blake] Encrypting email addresses in source code

By kkegans - July 30, 2008

I would think somewhere in the $25 - $30 range would be a great deal.....
CMSB Rocks!
Thanks,
Kurt

Re: [Dave] Encrypting email addresses in source code

By Dave - October 2, 2008

Hi Everybody,

Thanks for your feedback and suggestions, we've made this into a product and you can read about the beta release here:

http://www.interactivetools.com/iforum/Spambot_Email_Protector_F36/
Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com