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Category: Techniques (Page 5 of 5)

Use Temporary Email Services for Privacy and Convenience.

January 26, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Use Temporary Email Services for Privacy and Convenience

In a previous post, Privacy Hive discussed the importance of choosing a privacy-oriented email provider and using email forwarding services to disguise your primary email address and create aliases for different services and websites. However, sometimes, you only need a temporary email to register for a service, verify an account, or receive a confirmation link. These brief email accounts provide a convenient way to avoid using your more permanent and essential email address shared with family and friends.

What are temporary email services?

Temporary email services are online platforms that allow you to create and use disposable email addresses that expire after a certain period, usually ranging from a few minutes to a few days. These services do not require personal information, registration, or password. You can generate a random email address or choose from a list of available domains and use it for your online activities.

Why use temporary email services?

There are many benefits of using temporary email services, such as:

  • Privacy: You can protect your actual email address from spam, phishing, hacking, identity theft, and unwanted marketing. You can also avoid revealing your personal information or interests to third-party websites or services that may track, sell, or share your data with others.
  • Convenience: You can save time and hassle by not having to create and manage multiple email accounts for different purposes. You can also avoid cluttering your inbox with unnecessary or unwanted emails you may never read or need again.
  • Security: You can reduce the risk of compromising your online accounts or devices by using temporary email addresses for verification or authentication. You can also avoid exposing your actual email address to potential malware, viruses, or hackers that may try to access your email or device.

How to use temporary email services?

There are many temporary email services available on the web, but here are some of the most popular and reliable ones that you can try:

  • Temp Mail: This service allows you to create and use a temporary email address that expires after an hour. You can also extend the validity of your email address, change the domain name, or delete it manually. You can access your inbox from any device or browser and receive attachments up to 10 MB.
  • Guerrilla Mail: This service allows you to create and use a temporary email address that expires after an hour. You can also choose from various domain names, send and receive emails with attachments up to 150 MB, and scan your emails for viruses. You can access your inbox from any device or browser and use a password to protect your email address.
  • EmailOnDeck: This service allows you to create and use a temporary email address that expires after 24 hours. You can generate a new email address, change the domain name, or delete it manually. You can access your inbox from any device or browser and receive emails with attachments up to 25 MB.

Tips and precautions for using temporary email services

While temporary email services are helpful and convenient, they also have some limitations and risks that you should be aware of, such as:

  • Not suitable for long-term or important communication: You should not use temporary email services for anything that requires long-term or ongoing communication, such as personal or professional contacts, online banking, social media, or e-commerce. You may lose access to your email address or inbox at any time, or your email may be deleted, expired, or exposed to others.
  • Not compatible with some websites or services: You may encounter websites or services that do not accept or recognize temporary email addresses or require a valid or verified email address for registration or activation. You may also face issues with receiving or sending emails, such as delays, errors, or rejections.
  • Not completely secure or anonymous: You should not use temporary email services for sensitive or confidential information, such as passwords, personal details, financial data, or legal documents. You may still be tracked or identified by your IP address, browser, device, or other factors. You may also be vulnerable to phishing, spoofing, or hacking attempts by malicious actors who may access or intercept your emails.

Conclusion

Temporary email services are a great way to protect your privacy and convenience when you need a disposable email address for a short-term or one-time purpose. However, you should also be aware of the limitations and risks of using these services wisely and responsibly. You should also always use a secure and trusted email provider and forwarding service for your primary and permanent email address and communication. Stay safe, and happy emailing!

How Email Forwarding Services Can Enhance Your Email Privacy

January 19, 2024 / / 0 Comments

As mentioned in last week’s blog post, email is one of the most widely used and convenient forms of communication in the modern world. However, it also comes with many risks and challenges for your privacy and security. For example:

  • Your email address can reveal your identity, location, and interests to third parties who may use it for marketing, tracking, or malicious purposes.
  • Your email provider may scan your emails for keywords, attachments, or links and use them to target you with ads, sell your data, or cooperate with government agencies.
  • Your email account may be hacked, compromised, or exposed in a data breach, resulting in the loss of your personal or sensitive information or the impersonation of your identity.

You may have already taken steps to protect your email privacy, such as using a secure email service that respects your privacy, encrypting your emails, setting expiration dates on your messages, and using two-factor authentication. However, email forwarding services are another simple and effective way to enhance your email privacy.

What are email forwarding services?

Email forwarding services are online platforms that allow you to create alternative email addresses that forward messages to your main email address, keeping your primary address hidden from the sender and the recipient. For example, if your primary email address is john@proton.me, you can create an alias such as john@33mail.com to sign up for newsletters, online accounts, or other services. Any email sent to john@33mail.com will automatically be forwarded to john@proton.me without revealing your email address.

Email forwarding services offer many benefits for your email privacy, such as:

  • You can avoid spam, phishing, and malware by creating disposable email addresses that you can delete or block anytime.
  • You can prevent tracking and profiling by using different email addresses or websites for various purposes, making it harder for third parties to link your online activities.
  • You can control your inbox by filtering, sorting, or labeling your forwarded emails according to the sender, the subject, or the content.
  • You can reduce the risk of data breaches by limiting the exposure of your primary email address, which may be linked to your other personal or financial information.

What are the most popular email forwarding services?

Many email forwarding services are available online, but not all are equally reliable, secure, or private. Some may have poor performance, limited features, or questionable privacy policies. Therefore, choosing an email forwarding service that meets your needs and expectations is essential. Here are some of the more popular email forwarding services for 2024:

  • 33mail: This free, open-source, and encrypted email forwarding service allows you to create unlimited private email addresses that forward messages to your primary email account without revealing your real identity or email address. By using 33mail, you can protect your primary email address from spam, phishing, and hacking, control your email subscriptions and preferences, and enhance your email encryption and security.
  • Forward Email: This free, encrypted, open-source email forwarding service does not store any logs or emails. It offers unlimited custom domain names, email addresses, aliases, phishing, executable, and virus protection. It also supports catch-all email addresses and multiple recipients per email address. You can also opt for a paid plan offering enhanced privacy protection and customization options.
  • SimpleLogin: This secure and easy-to-use email forwarding service lets you create unlimited email aliases that forward to your inbox. It also offers encryption, custom domains, browser extensions, and mobile apps. You can use it for free with some restrictions or subscribe to a premium plan that provides more benefits and support.

Email forwarding services are a great way to enhance your email privacy and security, as they allow you to hide your actual email address and use alternative email addresses that are forwarded to your inbox. By using email forwarding services, you can avoid spam, phishing, malware, tracking, profiling, and data breaches and have more control over your inbox.

Why You Need a Privacy Email Provider

January 12, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Email is one of the Internet’s most widely used forms of communication. Whether you use it for personal or professional purposes, you often send and receive dozens of emails daily. But have you ever wondered how secure your email is?

Most people use popular email services such as Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo, which are free and convenient. However, these services come with a trade-off: they often scan your emails and collect data to send to advertisers. They also have access to your email content and metadata, which can reveal much information about you and your contacts. Moreover, they may comply with government requests or court orders to hand over your data to third parties. Your email privacy is at risk.

Anyone who can intercept or access your emails can potentially read your personal or sensitive information, such as passwords, bank details, health records, or confidential documents. These actions can lead to identity theft, fraud, blackmail, or cyberattacks.

To protect your email privacy, you need a private email provider. A private email provider is a service that encrypts your emails and does not collect or share your data with anyone. Encryption is a process that scrambles your messages so that only you and the intended recipient can read them. A private email provider also offers features such as self-destructing emails, anonymous sign-up, and zero-access guarantee, which means that even the provider cannot access your emails.

The Best Private Email Providers

Many private email providers are available, but not all are equally secure and reliable. Here are some of the more popular private email providers that you can use in 2024:

  • ProtonMail: ProtonMail is the world’s most popular and trusted private email provider. Scientists at CERN founded it, and its servers are in Switzerland, a country with strong privacy laws. ProtonMail uses end-to-end encryption, which means that your emails are encrypted on your device and can only be decrypted by the recipient. ProtonMail also offers self-destructing emails, anonymous sign-up, and a zero-access guarantee. ProtonMail has a free plan supporting one email address, 1GB of storage, and 150 daily messages.
  • Mailfence: Mailfence is another excellent private email provider that uses end-to-end encryption and does not track or store your data. Mailfence also supports digital signatures and encryption keys, which allow you to verify the identity and authenticity of your email contacts. Mailfence has a free plan supporting one email address, 500MB of storage, and 1,000 monthly messages. 
  • StartMail: StartMail is a secure email provider that lets you create unlimited aliases and temporary email addresses that you can use to protect your actual email address from spam and phishing. StartMail also uses end-to-end encryption and does not collect or share your data with anyone. 
  • Tutanota: Tutanota, now known as Tuta, is a green and eco-friendly private email provider that uses renewable energy to power its servers. Tuta also uses end-to-end encryption and does not store metadata, such as the subject line or the sender and recipient of your emails. Tuta has a generous free plan.

These are just some of the best private email providers that you can use to protect your email privacy. Using a private email provider, you can ensure that your emails are secure and confidential and that your data is not exploited or exposed by anyone.

Privacy is priceless. Value it.  

How to Choose a Good Browser for General Online Privacy

December 8, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Introduction

The internet is a vast and wonderful place, but it also comes with many risks and threats to your privacy. Online marketers, advertisers, hackers, and even governments can track your online activities, collect your data, and use it for various purposes. Some of these purposes, such as showing you relevant ads or improving your user experience, may be harmless. However, some browsers can cause you harm in various ways.

Your web browser is one of the most essential tools you use to access the internet, it is the software that allows you to view web pages, search for information, watch videos, play games, and more. However, not all browsers are created equal when protecting your online privacy. Some browsers have more features and settings that allow you to control how much data you share with websites and third parties, while others have less or none.

This article will compare the privacy strengths and weaknesses of four popular browsers: Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari, and Microsoft Edge. We will also explain why Mozilla Firefox is the better option for those people seeking a more private online search. We will discuss the Tor browser in another blog post.

Comparison of Browsers

Mozilla Firefox

• Pros: Open-source, customizable, strong tracking protection, private browsing mode, encrypted DNS, password manager, VPN service
• Cons: Unique fingerprint, slower than Chrome, fewer extensions

Google Chrome
• Pros: Fast, popular, secure, syncs across devices, many extensions, built-in translator
• Cons: Owned by Google, collects and shares user data, weak tracking protection, uses third-party cookies, no VPN service.

Apple Safari
• Pros: Default browser for Apple devices, fast, secure, blocks third-party cookies, prevents fingerprinting, private browsing mode, iCloud+ subscription offers VPN-like feature
• Cons: Only available for Apple devices, minimal settings, some gaps in tracking protection, fewer extensions, no password manager.

Microsoft Edge
• Pros: Default browser for Windows devices, fast, secure, syncs across devices, blocks third-party trackers, private browsing mode, password manager, built-in translator
• Cons: Owned by Microsoft, collects and shares user data, weak tracking protection, uses third-party cookies, no VPN service.

Why Mozilla Firefox is the Best Option

Based on the comparison above, we suggest that Mozilla Firefox offers the most features and settings that enhance online privacy. Firefox is an open-source browser, meaning anyone can inspect its code and verify that it contains no hidden or malicious functions. Firefox also allows you to customize your browser with various add-ons and preferences that suit your needs and tastes. Firefox has a vital tracking protection feature that blocks ads, trackers, and cookies from websites and third parties that may try to collect your data or follow you around the web. Firefox also has a private browsing mode that deletes your browsing history, cookies, and cache when you close the window. Firefox supports encrypted DNS, meaning that your domain name requests are protected from eavesdropping and tampering by anyone wanting to see what websites you visit. Firefox also has a password manager that securely stores and auto-fills your passwords for different websites. Finally, Firefox offers a VPN service called Mozilla VPN, which encrypts your internet traffic and hides your IP address from anyone wanting to track your location or identity.

The main drawback of Firefox is that it has a unique fingerprint, which means that your browser can be identified by its configuration and settings. This can make you more vulnerable to targeted ads or attacks. However, you can reduce your fingerprint by using Firefox’s anti-fingerprinting feature, which makes your browser look more like other browsers. Another drawback of Firefox is that it is slower than Chrome, the most widely used browser in the world. However, the speed difference is insignificant, and you may not notice it unless you have a slow internet connection or a low-end device. A third drawback of Firefox is that it has fewer extensions than Chrome, which means you may not find some of the tools or functions you need or want. However, Firefox has a large and diverse collection of extensions that can enhance your browsing experience and privacy.

In conclusion, Mozilla Firefox is the better browser for online privacy because it offers the most features and settings that allow you to control how much data you share with websites and third parties and how much they can track your online activities. Firefox is also an open-source and customizable browser that respects your freedom and choice. Firefox may have some drawbacks, such as a unique fingerprint, slower speed, and fewer extensions, but these can be mitigated or outweighed by its advantages. Therefore, we suggest using Mozilla Firefox as your web browser if you want a more private online experience.

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