(kudra: mailto is not opt-in) Re: Re: Perl Programs that can retrieve email addresses from web pages

I have to disagree with the implication that if an email address isn't mauled that it is ethical to grab it from a mailto. In practice, giving your email address may be akin begging for junk mail, but in theory (and ethics), I think that's different from requesting junk email.

Update: strredwolf, exactly what I meant. I have my address on my site because I want people to be able to use it, not because I want junk mail.

Update ichimunki, I think we do agree. I was writing my comment at the same time as Dave wrote his, and his sums up my point well enough.

Comment on (kudra: mailto is not opt-in) Re: Re: Perl Programs that can retrieve email addresses from web pages

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Re: (kudra: mailto is not opt-in) Re: Re: Perl Programs that can retrieve email addresses from web pages by strredwolf (Chaplain) on Jan 03, 2001 at 20:55 UTC
Sociting comments is one thing. Getting junk mail which burns up time , money, and bandwidth is another. I get too many junk mails in relation to the "Hey! Good artwork!" or "Have you tried this technique?" or "I want to commission you!" e-mails. Are they being drowned out? -- $Stalag99{"URL"}="http://stalag99.keenspace.com";	[reply]
Re: (kudra: mailto is not opt-in) Re: Re: Perl Programs that can retrieve email addresses from web pages by ichimunki (Priest) on Jan 03, 2001 at 21:14 UTC
I don't really want to get into an ethics debate, and I thought I was pretty clear about what I thought of using harvested emails for the purpose of spam. Soliciting is soliciting, whether electronic, by phone, snail mail, or door-to-door. I am not interested in using the "ethics" club to bludgeon free speech, whether it's opinions I don't like or offers to buy more crap. I should be able to request in any medium that I not be contacted again, once that initial solicitation has been made. I also think sending anonymous spam should be a felony-- I put it on the same level as cracking passwords without permission-- attempts to subvert systems for unauthorized use. Other than mauling my email address to inhibit simple (or even the new-and-improved) harvesting, I cannot think of a single way to post information in public, and not expect the public to use that information if they want. Does robots.txt have an email solicitation "opt-in" flag?	[reply]
Re: Re: (kudra: mailto is not opt-in) Re: Re: Perl Programs that can retrieve email addresses from web pages by strredwolf (Chaplain) on Jan 03, 2001 at 21:26 UTC
No, robots.txt only specifies pages on a server, and even theough it's a standard, some broken peices of cruft programming don't care for it. Wget cares, though. ;) -- $Stalag99{"URL"}="http://stalag99.keenspace.com";	[reply]