Text in web page becomes encrypted when copied and pasted

Question

When I try to copy and paste the text in the following web page to Notepad, the text becomes encrypted.

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/17887201.asp?yazarid=249

1. How does this happen? What is the trick behind that?
2. Can this encryption be overwhelmed? If yes, how?

More Info:

I tried to paste in Notepad++, MS Word 2007, and in Firefox (in this very question box); got the following text (the same snippet @Matt Jenkins referred to in his answer):

Tuntnzkuecelhl3ak9i’djtbs2oe 4t2havd kicctd8slol4a3b6suk,iuwjcd Birbzow4ngönzy12al’dvgbvm4e 80ak5v8 ki0vgi2ulol2yajv4uk nd56f6basnskrbdma 3nwdb1düz3ojhteenel3452aklict9uzn ma8rostuyın06g53u bua86al4lunpnlbnwdu.33kig4 Şı4ol281rnaamhetrk’tct8mr6a aljkeposkei3wtderi 4eaw3ebirdbj3e5likgh2jj2 gebd3nfuçerorbo1fkenozaw8k, T320odzNT 3wa1eave 25at8lgüb63k8cureye5grtwle d4vernhaz3r1tt6ırlkhl2vyanıer8seup ymj3c61ol 3mocutkenvantlharı5zrugwna ps6y1rtuz4rkkooaklmtof93anaatvuuvn 2bvs0u20 kyf5v1filo586tb6luk98ndfu mavadwhayınvswyoj pa5wglpztlabiwcm3dı.

Answer 1

Your browser copies what it sees in the page – which is not always the same as what you see.

For example, this paragraph in your page:

Tunceli’de 4 kiloluk, Bingöl’de 8 kiloluk basma düzenekli mayın bulundu.

is displayed from this HTML source:

<P><EM>Tun<span class="yfji">tnzkue</span>cel<span class="eikn">hl3ak9</span>i’d<span class="bcb6">jtbs2o</span>e 4<span class="zgd9">t2havd</span> ki<span class="y3nt">cctd8s</span>lol<span class="eoaa">4a3b6s</span>uk,<span class="m5z5">iuwjcd</span> Bi<span class="ckun">rbzow4</span>ngö<span class="t8jr">nzy12a</span>l’d<span class="v1vy">vgbvm4</span>e 8<span class="h3v5">0ak5v8</span> ki<span class="szmy">0vgi2u</span>lol<span class="p00o">2yajv4</span>uk <span class="my4v">nd56f6</span>bas<span class="b5sl">nskrbd</span>ma <span class="j3y5">3nwdb1</span>düz<span class="l53b">3ojhte</span>ene<span class="e8a8">l3452a</span>kli<span class="yby5">ct9uzn</span> ma<span class="kjf5">8rostu</span>yın<span class="f1jt">06g53u</span> bu<span class="p2b1">a86al4</span>lun<span class="fkzc">pnlbnw</span>du.

As you can see, the text is full of tags like <span class="yfji">tnzkue</span>. You don't see them in the page because these classes are declared as invisible through CSS. (I think it's supposed to protect against either content stealers or search engines.)

• An example from http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/_css/hurScramb.css stylesheet file:

  .yfji{
  display:none;
  }
  .ni6c{
  display:none;
  }
  

  This means that all tags with class="yfji" or class"ni6c" would be invisible.)

Some browsers (Firefox, Opera and Chrome) are smart enough to ignore the hidden text, while others, such as Internet Explorer copies everything.

To answer your other question: Upgrade your browser.

Answer 2

Works fine for me, but then I'm not using Notepad.

My guess is it's UFT-8 or UTF-16 text, and Notepad can't handle that.

I know I can copy and paste the text from Firefox into gEdit in Ubuntu, so maybe try a different editor that can handle more than just plain ASCII.

I don't know what it says, but here's a snippet:

Tunceli’de 4 kiloluk, Bingöl’de 8 kiloluk basma düzenekli mayın bulundu. Şırnak’ta askeri birlik geçerken, TNT ve gübreyle hazırlanıp yol kenarına tuzaklanan 20 kiloluk mayın patladı.