[LINK] Email Obfuscation Helps Spammers: Google returns 27 million results for "* at * dot com"

[Ivan Trundle]

Kim is using Google.com, Rick is using Google.com.au. Whilst it  
shouldn't make any difference, it does. Oddly.

My results (with 100 results per page):

Google.com
Results 1 - 100 of about 401,000 for "at*dot*au". (0.12 seconds)

Google.com.au
Results 1 - 100 of about 399,000 for "at*dot*au". (0.28 seconds)

If I were to restrict Google.com.au to search .au only:
Results 1 - 100 of about 28,600 for "at*dot*au". (0.17 seconds) -  
which is stranger itself. Why such a dramatic drop? Surely there  
can't be that many non-.au domains with Australian e-mail addresses?  
Perhaps this is true. And if so, there is a thesis there, I'm sure!

But what I don't understand is the multiplication of results by Kim.  
My understanding is that Google lists the number of results across  
all pages, then shows a subset of that number per your preferences set.

Consequently, 'World' Google sees 2,000 more hits than 'Oz' Google.  
Neither sees 19+ million, though.

Or am I missing something vital here? What are the 'hits' that you're  
referring to, Kim?

Either way, there are plenty of e-mail addresses for spammers to  
grab, nonetheless.

iT


On 17/06/2007, at 11:41 PM, Kim Holburn wrote:

>
> On 2007/Jun/17, at 1:44 PM, Rick Welykochy wrote:
>
>> Kim Holburn wrote:
>>
>>> The string "at*dot*au" gets 19,400,000 hits.
>>
>> I get 405,000 hits. The URL is:
>> http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=at*dot*au&btnG=Search&meta=
>
> at*dot*au
> Results 1 - 10 of about 396,000 for at*dot*au. (0.14 seconds)
>
> http://www.google.com/search?q=%22at*dot*au%22
> "at*dot*au"
> Results 1 - 50 of about 394,000 English pages for "at*dot*au".  
> (0.26 seconds)
> which I calculate is 19,700,000 hits
>
>
>> Am I doing something wrong?
>>
>> cheers
>> rickw
>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> _________________________________
>> Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services
>>
>> War is God's way of teaching Americans geography.
>>      -- Ambrose Bierce
>
> --
> Kim Holburn
> IT Network & Security Consultant
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>
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>                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961
>
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>
>

--
Ivan Trundle
http://globallearning.com.au ivan at globallearning.com.au
ph: +61 (0)2 6249 1344 mb: +61 (0)418 244 259
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