An email address obfuscator is a technique used to disguise email addresses from automated bots while still making them readable to human users. The primary purpose of email address obfuscation is to prevent email harvesting by spammers. Web scrapers use automated bots to collect email addresses from websites, forums, or other online sources. Spammers often use these harvested email addresses to send unsolicited and malicious emails, such as phishing attempts, scams, or malware distribution.

Email address obfuscation helps protect organizations from unwanted email spam by making it more difficult for automated bots to extract email addresses from a webpage. This is achieved by manipulating the email address in a way that is still readable by humans but is hard for automated scripts to decipher.

Common methods of email address obfuscation include:

• Image Representation: Displaying the email address as an image rather than plain text, requiring human interaction to read and transcribe.
• Character Replacement: Replacing certain characters in the email address with HTML entities or other character representations.
• JavaScript: Using JavaScript to dynamically generate the email address on the webpage, making it harder for static web scrapers to capture.
• CSS Tricks: Applying styles to hide portions of the email address or break it into multiple parts that are later assembled through CSS.

While email address obfuscation can be effective in reducing email harvesting, but it is not foolproof. Determined spammers may still find ways to decode obfuscated email addresses. Additionally, obfuscation methods can sometimes create usability issues for legitimate users, so it's essential to strike a balance between security and user experience. In recent years, web developers and security experts have explored alternative approaches to address this issue, and using contact forms or implementing server-side solutions are among the strategies considered for mitigating email harvesting.