I'm writing a php application that submits via curl data to sign up for an iContact email list. However I keep getting an invalid email address error. I think this may be due to the fact that I'm escaping the @ symbol so it looks like %40 instead of @. Also, according to the php documentation for curl_setopt with CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS:

The full data to post in a HTTP "POST" operation. To post a file, prepend a filename with @ and use the full path.

So, is there anyway to pass the @ symbol as post data through curl in php without running it through urlencode first?