[archived] imm_encrypt: Email Encryption

mikhail · 2004-09-23 18:42:43

Notice: This thread is archived, this plugin is no longer available.

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Created a plugin to do email encryption/decryption (PHP/JavaScript).

Usage and examples are all in the help section. It worked under RC1, haven’t tried previous versions.

Version: 0.2
Fixed Comments which resulted in faulty JavaScript file.
<a href=“http://www.treetrybe.com/imm/tests/email-encrypt/imm_encrypt_old_v0.2.txt”>Old Format</a>
<a href=“http://www.treetrybe.com/imm/tests/email-encrypt/imm_encrypt_v0.2.txt”>New Format</a>

<a href=“http://www.treetrybe.com/imm/tests/email-encrypt/encrypt.js”>accompanying JavaScript file</a>

I expect to update it as I better understand how TPs plugins integrate.

Hope the explanation is clear, and someone finds it useful.

Last edited by mikhail (2004-09-30 03:48:03)

hafnius · 2004-09-23 22:31:40

Cool plugin – it took me awhile to pickup how it worx. Very clever
- Thanx for the plugin
/Hafnius

PS: You might wanna offer the plugin in the old format with the string enclosed with $plugin ‘string’ so that both the old and the new version of TXP have easy accesss to it – alot of people incl. me have not yet upgraded

Last edited by hafnius (2004-09-23 22:43:54)

mikhail · 2004-09-24 03:22:18

Thanks for the input Hafnius. Old version added.

Maybe a quick explanation here might help.

What using the plugin will do is allow you to use email addresses on your webpage that cannot be harvested by email scrapers but will be totally accessible to users. You would even conceivably be able to show email addresses for commentors without anyone worrying about them being picked up by spammers.

It does this by encrypting the address in PHP (with a key) and decrypting it clientside (on the users computer) with JavaScript. This is not encoding with HTML entities (which harvesters can still get around), this is not redirection (which some harvesters can follow); this is misdirection. Since the encoded version LOOKS like an email address, any email harvester will harvest a bad address and likely get its database polluted with junk (especially if more people use the concept). It is simple to utilize, and users never notice a thing (unless they have JavaScript turned off).

My recommendation is that when you install it, you change the key. NOTE »The key needs to be the same in both the plugin and the JavaScript.«

Last edited by mikhail (2004-09-24 03:32:54)

tinyfly · 2004-09-24 17:25:41

excuse my ingnorance but how is this different/better than Txp’s built-in email tag?

Matt · 2004-09-24 17:30:13

As I understand it, the Txp method is “encoding with HTML entities,” which Mikhail mentions in the above post.

tinyfly · 2004-09-24 17:43:20

aha, thanks

mikhail · 2004-09-24 19:34:41

If you’re <em>really</em> interested, you can check out <a href=“http://www.unicom.com/chrome/a/000388.html”>Popular Spam Protection Technique Doesn’t Work</a> which explains why entity encoding doesn’t work, or you can check out <a href=”“>this thread</a> which documents the testing of some email harvesters and what they are capable of.

soulship · 2004-09-29 21:31:14

I have been trying this plugin for a little while now. I have it encrypting just fine, but the adress is not decrypting on the web browser side. Any pointers?

mikhail · 2004-09-30 02:02:40

It’s possible the JavaScript is conflicting with another script in the page. Got a link to the page with the problem?

soulship · 2004-09-30 02:46:34

Yes Thank you. I just put it back on the site and it’s still not decrypting. I have your canned example in my artcile form and it is <a href=“http://www.evolutiondesigngroup.net/?s=policy”>here.</a>

Thanks
Jamie

mikhail · 2004-09-30 02:58:33

I am not seeing two things. I am not seeing anything in the mailto link (email address is blank), and the javascript is a 404. Did you upload the JavaScript to the site?

soulship · 2004-09-30 03:08:04

<a href=“http://www.evolutiondesigngroup.net/scripts/encrypt.js”>here’s where the code is.</a>

and sorry I forgot to turn the plugin back on after disabling it earlier.

-Jamie

Sorry I quickly threw it back on the server when I recieved your reply. I have taken out the exteraneous items and I am still not getting the de-cryption on the client side. BTW thanks for your help.

Last edited by soulship (2004-09-30 03:22:40)

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#1 2004-09-23 18:42:43

[archived] imm_encrypt: Email Encryption

#2 2004-09-23 22:31:40

Re: [archived] imm_encrypt: Email Encryption

#3 2004-09-24 03:22:18

Re: [archived] imm_encrypt: Email Encryption

#4 2004-09-24 17:25:41

Re: [archived] imm_encrypt: Email Encryption

#5 2004-09-24 17:30:13

Re: [archived] imm_encrypt: Email Encryption

#6 2004-09-24 17:43:20

Re: [archived] imm_encrypt: Email Encryption

#7 2004-09-24 19:34:41

Re: [archived] imm_encrypt: Email Encryption

#8 2004-09-29 21:31:14

Re: [archived] imm_encrypt: Email Encryption

#9 2004-09-30 02:02:40

Re: [archived] imm_encrypt: Email Encryption

#10 2004-09-30 02:46:34

Re: [archived] imm_encrypt: Email Encryption

#11 2004-09-30 02:58:33

Re: [archived] imm_encrypt: Email Encryption

#12 2004-09-30 03:08:04

Re: [archived] imm_encrypt: Email Encryption

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