Everyone knows the problem of spammers “harvesting” e-mail addresses from the Web, USENET, etc.
How did it come to be called “harvesting”? “Poaching” is a much more appropriate term.
Sure, “harvest” fits; look it up in the dictionary and you will find it defined as “gain (something) as the result of an action.” But what is the implication? Something pastoral, like gathering wheat. In other words, it conjures the idea of someone reaping the fruits of a worthy effort. Hah!
Contrast with this definition of “poach”: “take or acquire in an unfair or clandestine way.”
Internet users, your addresses are not being harvested, they’re being poached.