Can website steal my email address?

I visited a number of websites for car audio products awhile back. I was just surfing and did not enter any information on any of the websites. Less than 15 minutes later I got an email from one of the sites! Was this just a wild coincidence or did they somehow get my email address while I was on their site? This is unnerving to say the least!

 

Forgot to mention I'm using Nav 7.01 standalone on Win 2k pro. I have cookies set to "Enable cookies from origination website only ". The "Ask me before storing a cookie" box is checked, and also "Limit lifetime of cookies to:" is set to "current session ".

 

I will just say I been surfing for about 6 years... it has never happen to me.

In fact I have had the same email address for over 2 years and I have never received any spam to that address.

 

If you click a link from your email (say spam), they will be able to get your email address (HTTP header's referral OR even worse ... embedded information). Suggestion, for all commerical emails, copy out the link, paste into Navigator, removing all unnecessary parts before hit Enter (or Go).

What are those hidden information?
For example, a link like
http://topsitez.us/category-tab.htm?id=704625&d=sen.ca.gov
the ?id=704625&d=sen.ca.gov
Remove those part if you really want to check it out.

 

Antony, good tip (but in my case I was not responding to an email). Arkie, you're doing something right if you'
ve never been spammed in 2 years!! Maybe it was just a freak coincidence in my case, but somehow I find that hard to believe. I've never received email from anyone in a car related business until this incident, so I don't believe my address was on some list targetting this particular demographic. Haven't had any repeat spam though. oscar$

 

This works great for me and is free!

First Rule and most important rule -- NEVER respond or reply to any spam e-mail, not even if they offer you an "op-out" option - this will only open a door for them to send you more e-mail and resell your email address! When you respond they know your address is good!

I never had much luck with "most" spam filters like Outlook Express and Netscape... also you will still receive the mail on your system.

First I changed my POP (Primary) mail address. I notified ONLY my friends that are in my address book.
When I send them "a Forward" I send as "Bcc ". I asked my friends to remove me from their forward list unless they use "Bcc ". Most people don't use Bcc and everyone's address is shown... in time each forward has numbers of addresses that can be collected and used for spam. A forward starts out between friends but it can wind up anywhere.

Next I set up a Hotmail address. I use this address as my PUBLIC address, for posting on forums, Newsgroups, any place that I need to post my address or placing orders on the internet. I set Hotmail spam filter to EXCLUSIVE, that means ALL incoming mail not in my Hotmail address book goes to a junk folder. With one click I can check the folder or delete the complete folder. I am not notified when mail is going to the junk folder only when mail comes to my inbox.. I will check it daily if I have recently placed an internet order. Usually web site order confirmation is sent immediately after placing an order. I don't have to check the junk folder unless I wish for it auto deletes in 7 days. If the mail is one I wish to continue to receive I click "This is not junk mail ".

Since doing the above almost three years ago I never get spam to my POP address or to my Hotmail Inbox.

I get about 30 spams a day to my Hotmail junk folder that automatically goes down the drain.

If everyone would stop answering and buying from spam there would be no more spam.

 

Oscar$
you do not need to reply to get the information on the header.

Arkie,
you must have incredible luck or very unusual username. I am pretty much stuck with my ISP username, and my Hotmail username was a variant of the same. I had to quit using the Hotmail address, and, what saved me from going crazy was that my ISP went out of business. But, the ISP which took had me keep the username. I had blissful peace for about six months, but then I started getting a lot of junk again.
I am using Mozilla1.3 with its junk folder.
I am using two other username, one with a scrambled username, and the other with computer generated address.
They have not figured out the combination.
But a website can record the ISP info, and if they guess the username, they can tack that on.

 

Westside

No, my user name is my simple 5 letter last name. I can change my user name any time I wish by notifying my cable server but never needed. I never heard of an ISP that required one to use a certain user name?

I don't think it is luck... I use the procedure I posted above for almost 3 years..... not one spam mail to my POP address or to my hotmail inbox.
Use my procedure with hotmail and it will work for you... one can use any user name you wish at hotmail.

I don't buy the business about a website recording and using ones address. I know it hasn't happen in the last three years. I spend several hours surfing the web every day and I will also say that I visit a lot of strange places.
My junk folder fills at hotmail from posting on forums, signing guest books, etc ... but that's what it's for.