Protect your email address and receive less spam with scr.im

TNW Quick Hit

scr.im offers users the opportunity to protect their email address from spam, ensuring only real people will use it.

Hits: scr.im protects those who broadcast an email address on social networks and classified sites which makes one an easy spam target for spam robots and email harvesters.

Misses: scr.im works best when using any browser other than Internet Explorer.

Overall: 4.5/5

The Details:

Email addresses are broadcast everywhere.  Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and a litany of other sites.  In fact, you may have forgotten some of the sites your email address is visible on, a scary thought.

scr.im, created by Ozh, is a free service designed to protect your email address on public sites.  scr.im converts one’s email address into a safe and short URL (for instance http://scr.im/jffcrmr).  Those desiring to send you an email can click the URL which reveals your email address after a simple test that automated scripts and bots have difficulty with.

Begin the process of protecting your email by entering your email address.  If you want a custom scr.im URL, you can do just that by selecting it below.  Once complete, hit “Protect my email,” and you’re finished.

Upon creating your scr.im URL, you can share the short URL anywhere you wish, in HTML docs, or forums.

Wonder what those will find when the click on your personal scr.im URL?  It won’t immediately be your email address.  People willing to email you will go to your URL and your email address will reveal itself upon completion of the test below.

Once a user passes the security test, the email address is revealed, as is a handy feature allowing one to compose mail in Gmail for those with Gmail accounts.

Exposing one’s email address is dangerous and can cause all sorts of havoc if your account is compromised. scr.im is dead simple to use, protects one from vicious attacks and is a service which costs nothing which you’ll definitely want to try.