It seems as if just about everything we do these days requires email verification, and in many cases, it’s a one-off. But now that the company, organization, whatever, has your email address, the spam begins to arrive almost immediately.
Temporary (or disposable) email addresses are a terrific way to beat spam. Whenever you’re asked to enter an email address for a one-off, simply visit one of the temporary email address services and copy and paste the temporary email address provided.
Here then are three temporary email address services for you to check out. All provide an Inbox for receiving information or a verification link, and none require a genuine email address for account creation or email forwarding.
10MinuteMail
10MinuteMail is very simple to use and, as the name suggests, all email is deleted after 10 minutes. However, 10MinuteMail’s Privacy Policy states that it does use cookies and also collects anonymous data.
Guerrillamail
Guerrillamail is powered by the Go-Guerrilla open source project. Guerrillamail utilizes a “Scramble” feature to enhance Inbox security and is a little different from the others in that there are no internal links, such as to a privacy policy or contact page. Instead, all that type of information is included under an “About” tab at the top of a welcome message.
Guerrillamail’s Privacy Policy states that it does not maintain logs and deletes all email after one hour. However, it does use cookies: “This site uses a session cookie to maintain application state. Other cookies may be used to remember your preferences. It also uses third-party cookies, including Google Analytics and Google Adsense“.
Maildrop
Maildrop is a little different from the others in that, as well as providing auto-generated temporary email addresses, it also allows users to make up their own temporary email addresses.
Maildrop’s Privacy Policy states: “The only storage we use is to keep track of the most recent inbox that you’ve visited. We do not track our users, nor do we use cookies to keep personal information“.
BOTTOM LINE:
It’s important to note that these types of services are not meant to enhance privacy, merely to prevent Spam. Regardless of which service you choose to use, the three above or any others, please make sure to check out the relevant privacy policy beforehand.
Stay safe out there!
—
