(This list doesn't include mainstream providers like Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, and there are tons of others that aren't listed, but interesting anyway.......rf)
A guide to throwaway email addresses Posted on July 11, 2005 http://neesh.org/2005/07/11/a-guide-to-throwaway-email-addresses/ There seem to be a fair few throwaway email address solutions available. As much for my own benefit as for anyone elses, I thought I¹d make a record of those which are available and their differences. I¹ll look at the actual web services set up for this purpose, and then maybe give a quick mention of some alternatives. The services are listed in no particular order. PookMail.com PookMail.com requires no registration. You just enter [EMAIL PROTECTED] into a signup form, and you can check the inbox whenever you want, even subscribe to an RSS feed. This means there is nothing to stop other people looking at your account, but messages are deleted after 24 hours and you can choose to delete an email from the system after reading it. Mailinator As with PookMail, Mailinator requires no registration. Email lasts on the servers for ³a few hours² and cannot be deleted by the user. Spamgourmet Spamgourmet is a bit different to Mailinator and PookMail. You have to signup, and then enter a valid email address for messages to be forwarded to. You can then give out expiring spamgourmet.com email addresses. To steal the example from their front page, you could give an address like [EMAIL PROTECTED] where someword is something random, x is the number of emails you want forwarded to your address (after which, they get eaten) and user is your spamgourmet username. You can even send mail to an address. spamgourmet will generate an email address to which you can send email to a desired address, which will then be forwarded and appear to come from your spamgourmet address. All code written for the services is available for download too. SpamBob SpamBob offers three different throwaway email services at the spambob.com, spmbob.net and spambob.org domains. Email sent to spambob.com addresses works much like the services offered my Mailinator and Pookmail, you create any address you want and anyone could potentially see what email you¹ve been sent. Spambob.com ³try to keep messages as long as possible², aiming for 30 days, and you can¹t delete messages on the server. With spambob.net addresses you activate in advance, messages are forwarded to an address of your choosing, and you can deactivate this forwarding at a later date if you start getting spammed. All email sent to spambob.org address are simply deleted, there¹s no way you can read them. dodgeit dodgeit is very similar to PookMail. You don¹t need to register, you get an RSS feed and anyone could potentially read your inbox unless you donate in order to password protect your mailbox. Unless you donate, you can¹t delete messages. Spamhole Spamhole allows you to sign up for a temporary address that will forward emails to an address of your choosing for 1-72 hours (your choice). Subsequent emails are then deleted. You need to verify the email address you¹re going to have mail forwarded to. Jetable Jetable¹s solution is almost identical to Spamhole¹s. You enter an email address to which you want email forwarded to for a limited time (1-8 days) and are given a randomly generated temporary alias. Most of the services listed here claim not to keep logs, but Jetable says in response to the question do you keep logs on this service, ³Yes, but for legal reasons only. No email address is going to be sold.² Quite what form these logs take is unknown. However, they¹re upfront about this and mention it on the front page. MyTrashMail MyTrashMail is yet another no signup disposable email address server where anyone can view your inbox. You can get RSS feeds for each inbox, and choose to delete messages. You can even reply, which few other services allow. The downside is the site seems pretty packed with advertising. Being forced to see obtrusive adverts using a system designed to allow you to avoid unsolicited and annoying advertising seems weird. An alternative: the + character The + character is valid in an email address, and in most email setups an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] will appear in the mailbox for [EMAIL PROTECTED] So if you want to retain privacy, you can add whatever you want after a + when giving your email address to suspicious registration systems, and if you get spam then start just deleting anything to that address. The advertisers could of course strip the +bit to get your base email address. Whether anyone does this in practice I don¹t know. Conclusion There are many more throwaway email address providers than I have the time or patience to list, though I think I mentioned the most popular ones. If you feel like using your new-found knowledge for good, you could always try out one of these services by signing up for an irritating registration-required site, and submitting the info to BugMeNot. You are a subscribed member of the infowarrior list. Visit www.infowarrior.org for list information or to unsubscribe. This message may be redistributed freely in its entirety. Any and all copyrights appearing in list messages are maintained by their respective owners.
