Obfuscating emails to counter spam
John Gilmore has a completely overheated response to the practice of obfuscating email addresses on web pages (e.g., what I do at the bottom of this page). (Via BoingBoing; I’ve cached Gilmore’s letter.) He asks whether such obfuscation shows that we’ve “reached a Brave New World in which we all start rewriting online history to suit today’s prejudices.” (Incidentally, I’ve not read Brave New World, but I have read 1984, and it sounds like Gilmore is reciting one of the 1984 police-state’s crimes. By citing Brave New World, was he just trying to avoid being the 10-billionth civil-liberties crusader to use the term “Orwellian”?)
He’s overreacting, and I think that he misunderstands what obfuscation is for. We’re not “rewriting history” at all; if people want to email us, they can still do so. Any reasonably intelligent person can de-obfuscate my email address at the bottom of this page. I don’t see what the big deal is.
Gilmore also writes that “Unwanted communications would exist even if every `spammer’ was flayed and burned at the stake.” Sure. Obfuscating email addresses won’t end all spam, but it might help, and the cost is minimal. Next topic?