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
Netflix on Wednesday said it is to charge NT$100 more per month for each user that is not part of the same household. Under the plan, the streaming service is to limit viewership to people who live in the same household. If a member wishes to add people outside of their address, they must pay NT$100 more per person every month. No additional viewers can be added to the NT$270 per month “basic” account. “Standard” accounts (NT$330) can add one user, while “premium” (NT$390) accounts can add two users. The company has said that people in the same household would still be able
PRESSURE POINT: Beijing might seek to lean on Musk to prevent his SpaceX from providing Taiwan access to its Starlink satellite system, ‘The Economist’ said Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) called out Elon Musk on Twitter, saying the value of democracy transcends that of money after the Tesla CEO said that China was likely to “integrate” Taiwan. Asked in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday last week if “China would make a move to take control of Taiwan,” Musk said that “the official policy of China is that Taiwan should be integrated... One does not need to read between the lines.” “There is a certain inevitability to the situation,” he added. “That is their policy, and I think you should take their word seriously,” Musk said. Regarding
VIGILANCE: The mask mandate would remain in effect at healthcare facilities, healthcare-related institutes and senior welfare facilities due to high infection risks there The mask mandate would be extended next month for three types of venues, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday as it reported that the average daily number of hospitalized COVID-19 cases increased by more than 30 percent last week. Local COVID-19 cases last week rose to an average of 204 daily hospitalizations, an increase of 32.5 percent from the previous week, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said. The number of prescriptions for oral anti-viral drugs to treat COVID-19 also increased to 23,503 courses — 17,424 courses of Paxlovid and 6,079 courses of molnupiravir. The average positivity rate
GROWING FAST: China continues to outpace the US in its production and commissioning of ships, as it seeks to expand ‘far seas operations,’ an ex-US Navy captain said China continued to increase its naval capacity last year, indicating that it is seeking to bolster its ability to invade Taiwan, a retired US Navy captain said. In an article published in this month’s issue of the US Naval Institute’s Proceedings magazine, retired US Navy Captain James Fanell wrote that China commissioned 10 warships and one submarine last year, and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) was continuing to commission the most annual tonnage globally, as it has done for at least the past five years. The PLAN is also outproducing the US Navy in total number of ships, tonnage and
RSS