Assume there is a PDF file which contains the [email protected]
email address as an image (the classic obfuscation method). However, what if this image is made clickable with a hyperlink which would contain mailto:[email protected]
? In this case, in SumatraPDF, for example, I can
- hover over this image and see the
mailto:[email protected]
tooltip; - hover over this image and invoke context menu to choose the "Copy Link Address" action (after what,
mailto:[email protected]
ends up in the OS clipboard); - click this image to invoke the corresponding (OS configuration-dependent) action on
mailto:[email protected]
.
Since, SumatraPDF is capable of displaying and copying mailto:[email protected]
, I assume that this information could be easily extracted by harvesters, couldn't it? Nevertheless, simple grep [email protected] <pdf>
and grep mailto <pdf>
over such PDF file do not yield any matches.
NOTE:
I have no idea how PDF stores such data. Thus, any details on this, which would accompany and support the answer to the main question, are extremely welcome!
Should one avoid providing a mailto:
hyperlink to improve protection and/or not spoil any preceding obfuscation method (whatever it was)?