Although most online forums and Web site registrations require that new users verify their passwords via e-mail, many Internet users fear that by providing their regular e-mail, spam would soon find its way into their inboxes. To combat the dilemma, “disposable” e-mail addresses, such as “Ten-minute Mail” (www.10minutemail.com) and “Mint Email” (www.mintemail.com), which can be discarded right after Web users receive their Web page registration passwords, are rising in popularity.
According to Ten-minute Mail founder Devon Hillard, a JAVA Web page architect based in Seattle, Washington, prior to opening his server to the public for the “self-destructive” e-mail service, his average daily e-mail flow was 200 to 300. However, after the launch of the service, his server received 60,000 to 70,000 e-mails a day, presumably all of them spam.
“This proves that the average person simply can’t trust a random site or forum with their real e-mail address,” Hillard said on his Web site.
Disposable e-mail come in handy wherever an e-mail verification is required, said Web user DBN, a computer science student at National Tsing-Hua University.
A while ago, when the Monopoly board game maker, Parker Brothers, launched an online poll for Web users to vote for 68 preselected cities [and would accordingly designate the cities as the expensive blue or cheap purple properties] for their newest “The Monopoly: Here and Now World Edition,” Taiwanese Web users initiated a “let Taipei appear on the World Monopoly” online rally with each user registering for multiple Mint Email addresses to vote with, DBN said.
Since the two disposable e-mail services appeared, thirty-some similar Web sites have emerged, DBN said, adding that their service “lifespan” ranged from 10 minutes to a year.
However, because most of these Web sites are written in English, Ten-minute Mail, which is available in Chinese, is still the most popular, he said.
An analysis of disposable e-mail usage reveals that most of these e-mail addresses are used for e-letter subscriptions or membership notifications — a sign that many web users wish to avoid the hassle of not being able to unsubscribe to the services they sign up for.
However, though disposable e-mail addresses are convenient, some online forums are starting to protest against these “insincere” registrations, banning all users that register with them.
Additional reporting by Meggie Lu
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
RSS