email adddress harvester

[Brett Dikeman]

At 6:28 PM +0100 4/10/02, rob hod wrote:
>     Thats handy.  I did have a quick look at the site, but it wasn't
>responding very quickly and I closed the window, so hopefully I haven't been
>caught.
>
>     How does one do a reverse dns search? is it easy?
>

It's not actually a "reverse DNS search"(reverse DNS search is when
you take an IP address and try to find the hostname); it's actually
called a whois query, and it's done against Verisign's database of
registered domain names.

Probably the easiest to use one is at geektools.com.  One of the
problems with doing a whois yourself is that it can become a
multistep process if the domain is not registered with Verisign aka
Network Solutions aka InterNIC...however, they will tell you who it
-is- registered under, and the address of that registrar's whois
server.

Same problem exists with whois lookups on IP addresses through
ARIN(American Registry of Internet Networks or something like that, I
forget exactly what it stands for.)  Nowadays, IP ranges are
typically assigned by an organization in the appropriate country.

Frankly, I think the idea that the webpage in question is using
information you've given it to send you spam overly paranoid.
There's no way to get your email address from any of the information
you provided.  It's literally just a joke....

If you want to do something useful, report spam.  One excellent tool
is spamcop.net.  Reporting is free; it automates looking up whose
jurisdiction the matter falls under etc; registering consists of
supplying your email address and answering an email(just like how you
sign up for a list at Audifans.)  They provide a URL which you
bookmark and return to any time you want to report a spam; takes
about 30 seconds to do so on average.  For a small yearly fee, you
can even have your email processed through spamcop so spam is
automatically removed.

Brett
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