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E-mail harvesting is the process of obtaining lists of e-mail addresses for use in bulk e-mail or other purposes usually grouped as spam. Methods range from purchasing lists of e-mail addresses from other spammers to the more common use of special software, known as "harvesting bots" or "harvesters", which scan Web pages, postings on Usenet, mailing list archives, and other online sources to obtain e-mail addresses.

Spammers may also use a form of dictionary attack in order to harvest e-mail addresses. For example, a spammer may send messages to adam@example.com, betty@example.com, carl@example.com, and so on. Any addresses to which messages are delivered, instead of being bounced back, the spammer can then add to his or her sending list.

Another form of e-mail address harvesting is to offer a product or service free of charge as long as the user provides a valid e-mail address, and then use the addresses collected from users as spam targets. A common tactic as of 2006 is to offer "free" items (such as plasma TVs or iPods) to participants who get a certain number of their friends to sign up; as in a classical pyramid scheme, most participants never receive any of the rewards.

In Australia, the creation or use of email-address harvesting programs (address harvesting software) is illegal according to the 2003 anti-spam legislation. [1] [2]. The legislation is intended to prohibit emails with 'an Australian connection' - spam originating in Australia being sent elsewhere, and spam being sent to an Australian address.

• A Federal Trade Commission warning about e-mail harvesting
• A list of the current top-25 IP addresses used for e-mail harvesting, as identified by Project Honey Pot
• A list of the current top-25 IP addresses used for e-mail dictionary attacks, as identified by Project Honey Pot
• Spam laws