--On 29 August 2009 04:19:58 +0000 Julian Mehnle <julian@mehnle.net> wrote:
Bob Puff wrote:
That's the logical progression of that argument, and is the good reason why obfuscation or even removal of parts is not only a good idea, its a necessity. Exposing raw email addresses in their normal form is real low-hanging fruit.
Regardless of what I think, my clients will cry bloody murder if emails leak out. I had one person recently google their email address, and found a link to an archive file that should have been private. I had removed all links to the archives, but somehow Google found it, indexed it, and the guy threatened me with bloody murder if I didn't take it down. Sheesh.
There's robots.txt, you know? If this is just about user outcry, then robots.txt will fix it (since all legitimate search engines honor it).
But, the legitimate search engines aren't the problem. It's the harvesters, which probably don't honour robots.txt. If you prevent Google from indexing the archive, then you just hide the problem.
-Julian
-- Ian Eiloart IT Services, University of Sussex 01273-873148 x3148 For new support requests, see http://www.sussex.ac.uk/its/help/