Why You Want to Use Disposable Email Addresses (Part 2)
Disposable email addresses are a powerful way to immediately enhance your privacy
Welcome to another issue of Secrets of Privacy where we discuss personal privacy related topics and provide practical tips to 10X+ your personal privacy and make you a harder target.
This is the second and final part in our series on disposable (a/k/a temporary or anonymous) email addresses. In this post we’ll dive deeper into the details of disposable email addresses and how to start using them today. Part 1 of the series is available here.
If you’re reading this but haven’t yet signed up, join the growing Secrets of Privacy community and get our newsletter delivered to your inbox by subscribing below 👇. Please also note that we receive commissions on purchases made through affiliate links included in this post.
What are the Key Advantages?
Disposable email addresses solve a number of privacy related problems. In fact, as we mentioned in Part 1, disposable email addresses are arguably more important than unique passwords (elaborated on at the end of this post). While we’ve already touched on some advantages of disposable email addresses, here are a few itemized for reference:
Controlling spam. Disposable emails are great for controlling spam. If you create unique addresses for each sign up/service, you can easily identify the source of any unwanted emails. Deleting the email address completely cuts off the spam or unwanted marketing messages. No need to even unsubscribe.
Mitigating damage from a hack. As noted in Part 1, if you use an email address like “facebook.kgnr50@simplelogin.com”, the fallout from that email address becoming public is much lower. There’s no personal information in that address and you can always delete the email address. Your primary email account remains isolated from the hack.
Big Tech confusion. Big Tech and Big Data rely on consistent information to create individualized advertising profiles. Phone numbers and email addresses are popular IDs. If you start using email addresses like facebook.kgnr50@simplelogin.com, it throws a wrench in their tracking plans.
Anonymity. They’re great for sites where you are trying to preserve anonymity like Reddit or X. Similar to #2 above, the email address has no visual association with your primary account and contains no personal information.
What are the Key Disadvantages?
Disposable email addresses are a relatively new technology. As a result, the use and adoption is not perfect, leading to some drawbacks. Key ones are:
Extra Effort. It’s much easier to use a single email for everything. Changing your digital habits to use disposable email addresses is additional effort and takes up head space.
Using disposable email addresses are not a lot of work mind you, and can become second nature very quickly. But it’s enough that most will never take the plunge. Fortunately for our readers, you’re primed to adopt this change quickly because you’ve embraced a Privacy First Mindset, discussed in a prior post here.
Some companies don’t like them. We regularly use disposable email addresses for online shopping. For the most part, it works fine. This is anecdotal, but we’ve had a few purchases declined when using disposable emails. In one case, we re-placed an order almost immediately with a yahoo email address and the order went through okay. We could get to a place where some sites block domains like simplelogin.com. Something to be aware of and keep an eye on.
Sending emails is not easy. As noted earlier, sending emails is generally much harder than with a traditional email account. It’s not even possible with all providers. For the most part, we use disposable emails for receiving email, so it’s not a huge concern. Our bet is streamlining the sending process will be the next big innovation in disposable email tech.
Ideal Use Cases
By now you’ve probably formulated a number of use cases for disposable emails to fit your needs. Below are a few for inspiration. If we miss any, please drop them in the comments or send us an email.
Newsletter signups
Social media logins
Political donations
Online petitions
Creating accounts with online stores
Grocery store and pharmacy discount programs
Online donations (ex: GiveSendGo, GoFundMe)
Public wifi logins
Lead magnets (i.e. free downloads)
LinkedIn (instead of publicizing your real email address)
Sending a one-time email
Registering for webinars
Email notifications (like product availability notices)
Disposable Email Providers
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of disposable email providers. We’ll make an effort to update this list but it will be outdated almost immediately due to the fast changing nature of this space.
SimpleLogin
Apple iCloud+, using their “hide my email” function. See here.
Skiff, using their “quick alias” feature.
Note that SimpleLogin can be used with or separately from Proton Mail. If you have a paid Proton Mail account, Simple Login is included for free.
Disposable Email Best Practices
You’ve decided that you’ll give disposable email addresses a try and are ready to get started. Here are some things to keep in mind based on our own experience, which will help make this change as painless as possible.
Start slow. It’ll take some time to get used to using disposable emails. That’s normal. The key is to not get discouraged in the beginning. You want to build a good habit so you stick with it for the long haul.
Experiment. Find out what websites and situations work best with disposable emails. You’ll still use your primary and secondary email accounts for certain services and sites. Also play around with how to filter messages and how to create your aliases. For instance, do you go with “newsletter” for all your newsletter subscriptions or choose unique names based on the newsletter? And will you use your disposable email address as the username for your online account?
We’re currently experimenting with using the randomly generated portion of the disposable email alias minus the domain as a website user name. For example, if the email address is facebook.kgnr50@simplelogin.com, the user name would be “kgnr50”. Password managers make this much easier to manage.
Be prepared for setbacks. You’ll find some sites won’t allow disposable email addresses. Or you’ll get the declined purchase or “fraud” warning. Be prepared to adapt on the fly and even go back to using your primary or secondary email if necessary.
Determine Your Must Have Features. What features do you need? Do you need a browser extension? What about a mobile app? Do you need to access an inbox or are you okay with having emails forwarded to a single inbox? This will help you pick the right provider for you.
Why Disposable Email Addresses are More Important to Privacy and Security Than Unique Passwords
If you only have one or two email addresses, a breach involving your primary or secondary email will:
Perpetually put you at risk of scams if you don’t delete the compromised email account; or
Waste your time and energy migrating to a new primary or secondary email address.
For these reasons, we encourage the Secrets of Privacy community to prioritize the adoption of disposable emails. To be clear, unique passwords are critical. The 23andme hack hammered this point home if it wasn’t clear already (see here for background). Everyone should be using a password manager now. We use Proton Pass.
But disposable email addresses are arguably more important to a personal privacy plan because its easier and less impactful to change your password than your primary or secondary email address. Here are specific reasons why this is the case:
Passwords are less likely to be compromised in a data breach. See the GiveSendGo and Trezor examples in Part 1 of this series. Email, on the other hand, is almost always a data set revealed in a data breach.
Changing passwords is easier than changing primary or secondary email accounts.
Email often contains personal information like name and even birth date. Passwords, on the other hand, usually do not.
Disposable email addresses can be deleted for good with a click or two, ending a key risk from the breach.
To reiterate, this is not to suggest unique passwords are unimportant, only that passwords shouldn’t get all the attention for enhancing your personal privacy and security. Advancements in disposable email tech make it easier than ever to incorporate their use into your personal privacy stack.
Break the Big Tech Free Habit
Still in search of your first or second privacy keystone habit? Disposable email addresses are a great option to get you started. Read more here. 👇.
Conclusion
As we’ve said before, it’s not a matter of when you’re data will be exposed in a breach, but what data and how much. The good news is you ultimately have control over what data is at risk. Disposable email addresses empower you to minimize your risk when that next data breach occurs. Please consider putting in a little effort now to experiment with disposable email addresses and you’ll save a lot of pain and stress later.
Thanks for reading Secrets of Privacy! Subscribe for free to receive new posts, support our work and join a community of personal privacy enthusiasts!
EOY Deals on Privacy Friendly Products and Services
Proton is running a limited time promotion right now on their core offerings like Proton VPN and Proton Mail. Up to 60% off select packages for our readers.
Worried about a Bad Actor using your personal information from a data broker or people search site but don’t know what to do about it? Privacy Bee will start removing your data immediately and save you hours of time by doing all of the work for you. Start making yourself a harder target today by signing up here.