Or: the reason why I had
to replace all "mailto:" links with JavaScript snippets
in my web pages.
If you aren't interested in the "reasons why" and you
just want to send me a message, go straight to the bottom
of this page.
Internet: a dream that became true... too much true
"Once upon a time" it was common opinion that the Internet
should had become one of the greatest way to freedom of expression
and democracy for everyone... fantastic.
Actually, that vision was right. But the problem is that freedom
and democracy, like much other things, may be used for everyone's
well-being, or may be abused by few arrogants.
Spam
So, what happened? It happened that in few years, this extremely
powerful tool for well-being was transformed into a powerful marketing
tool. Yes, few things could be as desirable as the opportunity to
send advertisement to an enormous number of recipients in a short
time and, above all, with very low costs. To do this, the only thing
needed is a database of e-mail addressess, and just by using any
PC one can send e-mail advertisements to all users whose address
is included in the database. The so called "spamming"
(a slang word that identifies sending of massive unsolicited e-mail)
phenomenon increased rapidly. Many e-mail boxes are daily flooded
by messages that contain enchanting promises that invite us to buy
products, services, to visit web sites where we can "easily"
use our credit card...
But... how do spammers to get valid e-mail addresses to be stored
in their databases? Several software systems have been developed,
and more and more powerful computers have been set up to do this;
all in all, the technique is simple: just program a software (so
called "web-bot", like those used by all search engines
to update their databases) to scan all known internet sites (jumping
from one to others just by following hyperlinks) and to look for
all words that are (or could be) e-mail addresses (for example,
"mailto:" tags or words with the "@" and some
dots in the middle).
So, all people who in some way "published" their e-mail
address in any page in Internet (for example, by sending a message
to a public newsgroup, or by publishing his/her personal web page),
sooner or later will be included in some spammer database or, more
likely, in databases set up by companies that in turn sell e-mail
addresses to spammers.
So my e-mail address, that until now was visible on these pages,
has been captured by hungry web-bots, just for spammers joy. During
last year, the amount of unsolicited messages has become ten times
higher than "true" messages. Unbearable. And it was getting
worse.
Defending against spam
Now, I can't even hope to free myself from spam, unless I change
my e-mail address. But my address is widely used by all people who
I am in contact with, and changing it will surely be a trouble.
But, at least, I can avoid that my address is included in more and
more spammer databases; at least, the problem shouldn't get worse.
For this reason, my address is no longer explicitely written on
these pages, but it has been replaced by a small JavaScript code.
How to send me a message
Click on my e-mail address below; if JavaScript is enabled in your
browser, a window will appear to compose and send me the message.
If JavaScript is not enabled, just use your e-mail software and
manually type my address:

that here is shown by a graphic image, impossible
to be "understood" by ultra fast (and ultra stupid) web-bots.
It is spelled like "a.giove AT mclink.it".
|