Email is a great invention, but it has also become a burden. Sometimes, you may want to send a message without revealing who you are. In other cases, you may want to subscribe to something on the Internet without tolerating the subsequent barrage of spam.
The good news is that there are a number of excellent providers of anonymous and private email. Many of them are also temporary mailboxes, which means that you cannot use them as your primary email address.
However, when you need to communicate this without revealing your identity or intercepting your message, you should look no further than one of these great privacy-focused tools.
Guerrilla Mail
Guerilla Mail is not the most attractive web tool, but it is one of the fastest ways to send and receive mail anonymously. You do not need to register an account and you can immediately use a disposable mailbox.
The basic idea is that you use one of their temporary email addresses to subscribe to content. You can confirm your subscription in your Guerilla Mail and then send it over the air. Now your real email address will be spam-free or worse.
You can also send emails anonymously, and there is even a beta feature to attach small files up to 150MB in size.
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You might think that using a disposable address might make it difficult to do things like reset your password. In this case, however, your disposable email address will remain forever until you click “forget meâ€.
The only potential downside is that someone can guess the name of your mailbox, which will give them access. So use the strong random character string provided by Guerilla Mail itself.
It’s a great free service that might need some tweaking, but it definitely gets the job done.
Mailinator
Mailinator has a great name, but there’s a cool little service behind it. Unlike Guerilla Mail, Mailinator inboxes are public and will automatically delete their contents after a few hours.
You cannot send emails using the service and all mailboxes are public. Therefore, you should not use it to receive emails that contain personally identifiable information such as your real name.
This is a tool designed specifically for when you want to get past the wall that asks for your email, that is, downloads that require email. It is not for opening accounts or other long term commitments. If you want consistency and privacy, they also offer a paid subscription.
ProtonMail
Proton Mill
ProtonMail is free, but requires you to create an account. This means that it is not anonymous in the sense that the provider itself has information about you. Therefore, you must trust the people behind ProtonMail when it comes to protecting your privacy.
However, the company is based in Switzerland, which is known for its strict privacy laws. They also use end-to-end encryption, which means that even ProtonMail doesn’t know the content of your emails.
It is based on open source technology, so it has been tested for hidden code and loopholes by the indie community. On top of that, ProtonMail does not keep any logs, so no one can link you to your ProtonMail account. It is one of the most advanced products and an essential tool in your personal privacy suite.
Just remember that, unlike the two previous services we looked at, ProtonMail protects your identity from prying eyes, but not from the person you are sending the message to, unless you refrain from registering using your real name, which we do not recommend.
Melvin
Mailfence is very similar to ProtonMail It is a proper cloud-based email service that provides strong protection against leaking your identity or message content. Please note that if you register using your real name, the person you send the message to will see that name.
This service protects your email from strangers. So don’t use it to send messages anonymously unless you also use a fictitious name. If you want MailFence to protect your identity from recipients, don’t give it any real information about yourself!
In terms of features, it’s a little more technical than ProtonMail, but it also offers finer options for managing your experience. If you opt for a paid subscription, you will also have access to useful features such as aliases and additional email domains.
It’s all about priorities
Few things are as important these days as your privacy and the ability to remain anonymous if you want to. These four email services will help you stay focused on your personal correspondence, or simply provide a way to get rid of your annoying spam wall. In any case, the power is in your hands again.
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