simple security

Usually, websites require you to provide them with your email address when you sign-up for their services. This email address is then used for sending you a verification link or an activation code. Usually this is not a problem, but some service providers (sites) will sell your email address to spammers. Once you start receiving spam it is almost impossible to get off the spammers list. Ofcourse, you cannot give them a fake email address because you will never receive your activation code or verification link and would never be able to start using that service you signed up for.

You want a way out.. huh? Dont want to give them your real email address? One of the solutions to this problem is to create a temporary or disposable email address. So how does this work, you may ask. Start out by creating a disposable email address using one of the disposable email providers* like mailexpire, mailinator, Spamhole, spamgourmet etc. Some of these providers let you create an temporary email address that simply forwards the mail it receives to your real email address. After a few hours (you can specify the time) the temporary email account expires and vanishes from the face of this planet. Thats it. End of story.

So just before you sign-up for a new service, go and create a temporary email address with one of the above listed providers and then simply give that email address when the new service asks you for one. Even if the site sold your email address to a spammer, that email address is valid only for a few hours. After that, you never hear from that spammer again!

* I am in no way connected or have anything to do with any of the above listed temporary email service providers. Use them at your own peril.