For the life of the Internet, the art of protecting online e-mail addresses has rested upon the ability of web developers to come up with effective ways to sort man from machine.  In short, a CAPTCHA.

If a machine can identify and grab your e-mail address, you will become a target for SPAM - but removing your e-mail altogether is not an option if you want to provide legitimate clients and leads with a way to reach you without having to leave their computer.

When I first started looking at website code (back when a 28.8 baud audio modem was state of …

As I mention in, “Who is That on Your Website: Man or Machine,” a CAPTCHA is any automated process designed to differentiate between human and computerized posters.

CAPTCHA is especially useful for protecting your online forms, though it can also be helpful in keeping spammers from hijacking your blog, forum, or sign-up procedures.

Depending on your security needs, different kinds of CAPTCHA may be preferable.

Pre-built CAPTCHA

If there is a reason why someone would want to create multiple accounts on your page or frequently access some of your restricted information, you will want CAPTCHA which is harder to …