Interesting spamming tool: a robot to grab e-mail addresses

[Peter Valkenburg <]

From a spam message:

> Bull's Eye Gold is the PREMIER email address collection tool.
> ...
>     ...  All you need is your web browser and this program.
> Our software utilizes the latest in search technology called
> "spidering". By simply feeding the spider program a starting
> website it will collect for hours. The spider will go from website
> to targeted website providing you with thousands upon thousands of
> fresh TARGETED email addresses.

Hm, I suspect that this software does not care about robots.txt.
I can't think of an easy way to stop this sort of free enterprise
at the doorstep of a webserver..

Has anybody given it a test drive :-?

==
    Peter Valkenburg
    TERENA

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ee77991 wrote:
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> Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 08:12:08 +0000
> X-Info: Visit http://www.interactive.ca/agents/extraline
> 
> EMAIL MARKETING WORKS!!
> 
> Bull's Eye Gold is the PREMIER email address collection tool.
> This program allows you to develop TARGETED lists of email
> addresses.  Doctors, florists, MLM, biz opp,...you can collect
> anything...you are only limited by your imagination!  You can
> even collect email addresses for specific states, cities, and
> even countries!  All you need is your web browser and this program.
> Our software utilizes the latest in search technology called
> "spidering". By simply feeding the spider program a starting
> website it will collect for hours. The spider will go from website
> to targeted website providing you with thousands upon thousands of
> fresh TARGETED email addresses. When you are done collecting,  the
> spider removes duplicates and saves the email list in a ready to
> send format. No longer is it necessary to send millions of ads to
> get a handful of responses...SEND LESS...EARN MORE!!!
> 
> A terrific aspect of the Bull's Eye software is that there is
> no difficult set up involved and no special technical mumbo-jumbo
> to learn. All you need to know is how to search for your targeted
> market in one of the many search engines and let the spider do the
> rest! Not familiar with the search engines? No problem, we provide
> you with a list of all the top search engines. Just surf to the
> location of a search engine on your browser then search for the
> market you wish to reach...it's that easy!
> 
> For instance if you were looking for email addresses of Doctors
> in New York all you would do is:
> 
> 1) Do a search using your favorite search engine by typing in
> the words doctor(s) and New York
> 2) Copy the URL (one or more)...that's the stuff after the
> http://...  for instance it might look like
> http://www.yahoo.com/?doctor(s)/?New+York
> 3) Press the START button
> 
> THAT's IT!!!  The Bull's Eye spider will go to all the websites
> that are linked, automatically extracting the email addresses
> you want.
> 
> The spider is passive too! That means you can let it run all
> day or all night while you are working on important things or
> just having fun on your computer. There is no need to keep a
> constant watch on it, just feed it your target market and give
> it praise when it delivers thousands of email addresses at
> the end of the day!
> 
> Features of the Bull's Eye Software:
> 
> * Does TARGETED searches of websites collecting the email
>   addresses you want!
> * Collects Email addresses by City, State, even specific
>   Countries
> * Runs Automatically...simply enter the Starting information,
>   press The Start Button, and it does the rest
> * Filters out duplicates
> * Keeps track of URLs already visited
> * Can run 24 hours per day, 7 days per week
> * Fast and Easy List Management
> * Also has built in filtering options...you can put in words
>   that it "Must" have while searching,...you can even put in
>   criteria that it  "Must NOT Have"...giving you added flexibility
> * Also imports email addresses from any kind of files (text
>   files, binary files, database files)
> * List editor handles Multiple files to work on many lists
>   simultaneously
> * Has a Black-Book feature... avoid sending emails to people
>   who do not want to receive it
> * Built-in Mail program...send email directly on the internet
>   with just a click of your mouse
> * Personalized Emails...if the email address has the user's
>   name when it is collected,..you can send Personalized emails!!!
> * Sort by Location, Server, User Name, Contact Name
> * Advanced Operations:
> 7 Email address lists export in many different formats
>   (HTML, Comma delimited, text file)
> 7 Advanced editing...Transfer, Copy,  Addition, Delete, Crop,
>   Move to Top/Bottom
> 7 Operations between lists...Union, Subtraction, Comparison
> * Program is Passive,...meaning you can run other programs at
>   the same time
> 
> CALL FOR MORE INFORMATION   213-980-7850
> CALL FOR MORE INFORMATION   213-980-7850
> 
> ORDERING INFORMATION
> 
> Customer Name
> Company Name
> Address
> City
> State                       Zip
> Phone                                       Fax
> Email Address
> 
> ______ BULL'S EYE SOFTWARE   $259.00
> Includes Software, Instructions, Technical Support
> 
> ______ Shipping & Handling  (2-3 Day Fedex)  $10.00
>                            (Fedex Overnite) $20.00
> 
> ______  TOTAL
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> 
> *All orders are for Win 95 and Win NT
> 
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