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Possible Duplicates:
Is using Gravatar a security risk?
Is Gravatar a privacy risk?

Since the Gravatar is generated based on the email address. Is it possible to determine a user's email address based on their Gravatar?

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    where is the duplicate question?
    – rubo77
    Jun 19, 2012 at 16:01

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The email addresses in Gravatar are stored as MD5 hashes. It's the same kind of one-way protection used in password storage.

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    But for avatars, the "password" might be much more easily guessed, and then validated against the hash. Like when assuming a display name might also be the user name at one of the main email providers.
    – Arjan
    Feb 18, 2011 at 19:59
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    @chrisay It's only used for passwords by incompetent programmers, because brute-forcing md5 is fast. And for the same reason it sucks when hiding email addresses too.
    – CodesInChaos
    Jan 28, 2012 at 16:54

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