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
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
ENHANCING EFFICIENCY: The apron can accommodate 16 airplanes overnight at Taoyuan airport while work on the third runway continues, the transport minister said A new temporary overnight parking apron at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to start operating on Friday next week to boost operational efficiency while the third runway is being constructed, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The apron — one of the crucial projects in the construction of the third runway — can accommodate 16 aircraft overnight at the nation’s largest international airport, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told reporters while inspecting the new facility yesterday morning. Aside from providing the airport operator with greater flexibility in aircraft parking during the third runway construction,
American climber Alex Honnold is to attempt a free climb of Taipei 101 today at 9am, with traffic closures around the skyscraper. To accommodate the climb attempt and filming, the Taipei Department of Transportation said traffic controls would be enforced around the Taipei 101 area. If weather conditions delay the climb, the restrictions would be pushed back to tomorrow. Traffic controls would be in place today from 7am to 11am around the Taipei 101 area, the department said. Songzhi Road would be fully closed in both directions between Songlian Road and Xinyi Road Sec 5, it said, adding that bidirectional traffic controls would
RSS