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spambot

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
spambot
A program (spider, bot, crawler) on the Internet that gathers e-mail addresses to send spam to. There are countless e-mail addresses on Web site "contact us" pages as well as on blogs and newsgroups. Since they are typically coded in the "mailto" format, which when clicked, causes the address to open an e-mail message window, they are easily located (see mailto:).

Preventative Measures
In order to prevent a spambot from automatically identifying an e-mail address, some Web sites print the address as text and not a clickable mailto: link. Another maneuver is to spell out the symbols with the words "at" and "dot;" for example, "joe at computerlanguage dot com." This requires the user to correct the address by inserting the @ sign and period before sending. A more elaborate approach is to make the address really obtuse (see e-mail obfuscator). See spam, form spam and bot.
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“The spambot guys settled this business problem by going to the illegal pharmacies and saying, ‘Hey, give us a real product to sell and we'll take care of the supply chain, customer support and even the charge-back problems.
The cybercriminal underground: Commercial sophistication by Deb Radcliff / SC Magazine
Paid websites require actual payment, so there is little to no chance of a spambot appearing on the site.
What Is the Main Difference Between Free Dating Websites Vs. ... by Clarence Lee / Relationships community
They have locked me out of one of my own blogs and one I manage for a client because their spambot said it might be spam.
Spammers and Spam Hunters by Chris McElroy / Computers and Internet community
 
 
 
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