Guerrilla Mail

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Guerrilla Mail is a free disposable email address service launched in 2006. Visitors are automatically assigned a random email address upon visiting the site. Email is kept for one hour before it is deleted.

Features[]

Guerrilla Mail randomly generates disposable email addresses.[1] Disposable email addresses may be used as a means of spam prevention.[2] They may also be used if the user does not wish to give a real email, for example if they fear a data breach. Emails sent to addresses are kept for one hour before deletion. The site offers some choice of email domain names.[2][3]

History[]

Guerrilla Mail was founded in 2006, in Chicago.[4]

Privacy-centered services saw an up-tick in public interest after the global surveillance disclosures beginning in 2013, especially concerning attention brought to materials leaked by Edward Snowden. According to The Mercury News in 2014, "[Guerrilla Mail] has done nearly half of its business in the past year".[4]

In December 2013, a Harvard College sophomore and Quincy House resident Eldo Kim used Guerrilla Mail to send a bomb threat to offices associated with Harvard, including the Harvard University Police Department and The Harvard Crimson, in order to delay a final exam.[5][6][7] It was alleged in an affidavit that the student accessed Guerrilla Mail through Tor (anonymity network), a fact that might've been given away in the IP address present in the email header.[8][9]

In June 2017, it was revealed through court documents that the FBI used a social engineering technique known as phishing to target a Guerrilla Mail user. The case was unique, as it was the "first public example of the feds using a controversial update to a law allowing searches on users of anonymizing tools like Tor".[10][11]

As of November 4, 2020, Guerrilla Mail stated on Twitter that their site has been taken down by their hosting provider, OVHCloud, due to a law enforcement request which OVHCloud refused to provide details about.[12] The site has since been reinstated.

References[]

  1. ^ Greenberg, Andy. "How to Anonymize Everything You Do Online". Wired. Condé Nast. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  2. ^ a b "How to Avoid Spam—Using Disposable Contact Information". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2021-02-11.
  3. ^ "Get a Free One-Hour Email Address with Guerrilla Mail". Lifehacker. Retrieved 2021-02-11.
  4. ^ a b Somerville, Heather (2014-09-27). "Tech responds to growing calls for Internet anonymity". The Mercury News. Digital First Media. Retrieved 17 October 2014.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ Staff, CNN (18 December 2013). "Harvard student Eldo Kim charged in final-exam bomb hoax". CNN. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
  6. ^ Fandos, Nicholas P. (December 17, 2013). "Harvard Sophomore Charged in Bomb Threat". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  7. ^ "Harvard student made bomb threats to get out of exam, cops say". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2021-02-11.
  8. ^ "Eldo Kim Charged in Bomb Threat Case, Unlikely To Get Jail Time | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2021-02-11.
  9. ^ Brandom, Russell (2013-12-18). "FBI agents tracked Harvard bomb threats despite Tor". The Verge. Retrieved 2021-02-11.
  10. ^ Fox-Brewster, Thomas (June 13, 2017). "How The FBI Hacked A Dark Web Shopper Plotting A Mail Bomb Hit". Forbes. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  11. ^ "In The Matter Of The Search Of: The Use Of A Network Investigative Technique For A Computer Accessing Email Account". DocumentCloud. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  12. ^ @GuerrillaMail (4 November 2020). "It looks like or hosting provider, @OVHcloud, decided to shut down our services. The reason was that they received a law enforcement request (which they didn't forward to us, and refuse to share details about)" (Tweet). Retrieved 12 November 2020 – via Twitter.

External links[]

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