I have my own domain, which I use with a service called AnonAddy. It allows me to generate unlimited unique emails on-the-go, which I can then toggle off if spam starts coming in.
I use a unique email for every single service I sign up to.
Now, you are able to do this without a custom domain, but then you are putting all your eggs in one basket, and if the domain(s) you used for signing up, suddenly aren’t being renewed, you will lose access.
Thats why I have my own domain for this. If AnonAddy goes out of business, I can just take my domain, and all my aliases, to another service, such as SimpleLogin for example.
Can I also send mail from that address if I need to?
I have a similar set-up with an catch all on Google workspace but sometimes I also need to write a from that address. Eg to get support from that service I used the address for.
Yes, that is a core aspect of how these “aliasing services” work.
You are able to simply hit the “reply” button, in which ever email provider the emails are routed to, and whatever you write will be delivered exactly like that to the person who sent you an email.
From their perspective everything will look exactly as if they were talking to a regular email address.
This is a feature of both AnonAddy and SimpleLogin.
Regarding catch-all, that is basically also how I configured my usage of AnonAddy.
Usually you would go and create a new alias, before you want to receive incoming mails on that address. All emails to aliases that are not already created will be dropped.
But they also offer a, to me at least, superior version, where aliases are automatically created once the first email arrives on it.
This way you basically have a catch-all address, but with the benefits of being able to respond as all “identities”, as well as toggle off individual ones if you start receiving spam.
If you read below, avoiding spam is my ultimate goal with all of this. Your use-case may be different.
I have written a small add-on for Firefox, which will automatically generate a random forename.surname@domain.com for me, and create that alias in AnonAddy with the current URL as a note.
But yesterday I was checking in to a hotel, and the reception asked for an email, so I just typed hotel-name@domain.com, which will clearly indicate to me that it was created for that hotel only.
The downside to this is that it’s easier to spot that it is indeed an alias address, but I’m also well aware of how spammers just buy active email-addresses in bulk, without caring about where the leaks come from, so I’m not too scared that it will stick out too much.
You shouldn’t do stuff like facebook@domain.com or github@domain.com though. That’s gonna stick out like a sore thumb.
I use a unique email for every single service I sign up to.
I’m that paranoid too, but privacy and cyber security are a very important things!
If AnonAddy goes out of business, I can just take my domain, and all my aliases, to another service, such as SimpleLogin for example.
How can you do that? I have hundreds of aliases, but they are all with SimpleLogin domains, if they’ll ever go out of business (good thing that they are part of the Proton galaxy now!) I’ll loose all of my accounts.
If you’re using your aliasing-service to “blend in the crowd”, just like how TOR works, you may not want to use a custom domain.
For me, the purpose of AnonAddy is first, and foremost, to help me combat spam. Any privacy improving aspects I see as purely bonuses.
I will use the shared domains from time to time though, if I consider the risks to be too high. This goes from posting an email in a public forum, to signing up for a particularly suspicious newsletter for one-time benefits.
As always, you should take your own threat model in mind.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !privacyguides@lemmy.one
In the digital age, protecting your personal information might seem like an impossible task. We’re here to help.
This is a community for sharing news about privacy, posting information about cool privacy tools and services, and getting advice about your privacy journey.
You can subscribe to this community from any Kbin or Lemmy instance:
Check out our website at privacyguides.org before asking your questions here. We’ve tried answering the common questions and recommendations there!
Want to get involved? The website is open-source on GitHub, and your help would be appreciated!
This community is the “official” Privacy Guides community on Lemmy, which can be verified here. Other “Privacy Guides” communities on other Lemmy servers are not moderated by this team or associated with the website.
Moderation Rules:
We prefer posting about open-source software whenever possible.
No soliciting engagement: Don’t ask for upvotes, follows, etc.
Surveys, Fundraising, and Petitions must be pre-approved by the mod team.
Be civil, no violence, hate speech. Assume people here are posting in good faith.
Don’t repost topics which have already been covered here.
News posts must be related to privacy and security, and your post title must match the article headline exactly. Do not editorialize titles, you can post your opinions in the post body or a comment.
Memes/images/video posts that could be summarized as text explanations should not be posted. Infographics and conference talks from reputable sources are acceptable.
No help vampires: This is not a tech support subreddit, don’t abuse our community’s willingness to help. Questions related to privacy, security or privacy/security related software and their configurations are acceptable.
No misinformation: Extraordinary claims must be matched with evidence.
Do not post about VPNs or cryptocurrencies which are not listed on privacyguides.org. See Rule 2 for info on adding new recommendations to the website.
General guides or software lists are not permitted. Original sources and research about specific topics are allowed as long as they are high quality and factual. We are not providing a platform for poorly-vetted, out-of-date or conflicting recommendations.
Yes, it’s very useful.
I have my own domain, which I use with a service called AnonAddy. It allows me to generate unlimited unique emails on-the-go, which I can then toggle off if spam starts coming in.
I use a unique email for every single service I sign up to.
Now, you are able to do this without a custom domain, but then you are putting all your eggs in one basket, and if the domain(s) you used for signing up, suddenly aren’t being renewed, you will lose access.
Thats why I have my own domain for this. If AnonAddy goes out of business, I can just take my domain, and all my aliases, to another service, such as SimpleLogin for example.
Can I also send mail from that address if I need to? I have a similar set-up with an catch all on Google workspace but sometimes I also need to write a from that address. Eg to get support from that service I used the address for.
Yes, that is a core aspect of how these “aliasing services” work.
You are able to simply hit the “reply” button, in which ever email provider the emails are routed to, and whatever you write will be delivered exactly like that to the person who sent you an email. From their perspective everything will look exactly as if they were talking to a regular email address.
This is a feature of both AnonAddy and SimpleLogin.
Regarding catch-all, that is basically also how I configured my usage of AnonAddy. Usually you would go and create a new alias, before you want to receive incoming mails on that address. All emails to aliases that are not already created will be dropped. But they also offer a, to me at least, superior version, where aliases are automatically created once the first email arrives on it.
This way you basically have a catch-all address, but with the benefits of being able to respond as all “identities”, as well as toggle off individual ones if you start receiving spam. If you read below, avoiding spam is my ultimate goal with all of this. Your use-case may be different.
I have written a small add-on for Firefox, which will automatically generate a random
forename.surname@domain.comfor me, and create that alias in AnonAddy with the current URL as a note. But yesterday I was checking in to a hotel, and the reception asked for an email, so I just typedhotel-name@domain.com, which will clearly indicate to me that it was created for that hotel only. The downside to this is that it’s easier to spot that it is indeed an alias address, but I’m also well aware of how spammers just buy active email-addresses in bulk, without caring about where the leaks come from, so I’m not too scared that it will stick out too much. You shouldn’t do stuff likefacebook@domain.comorgithub@domain.comthough. That’s gonna stick out like a sore thumb.Interesting, thanks!
you can do that from Gmail if you add the address in the advanced settings
Yes, but it takes time. I just want to hit reply
How can you do that? I have hundreds of aliases, but they are all with SimpleLogin domains, if they’ll ever go out of business (good thing that they are part of the Proton galaxy now!) I’ll loose all of my accounts.
https://simplelogin.io/docs/custom-domain/add-domain/
Oh, I see, but that would defeat the anonymity since all the aliases would still point to me.
Yes, you are correct.
If you’re using your aliasing-service to “blend in the crowd”, just like how TOR works, you may not want to use a custom domain.
For me, the purpose of AnonAddy is first, and foremost, to help me combat spam. Any privacy improving aspects I see as purely bonuses.
I will use the shared domains from time to time though, if I consider the risks to be too high. This goes from posting an email in a public forum, to signing up for a particularly suspicious newsletter for one-time benefits.
As always, you should take your own threat model in mind.