[Infowarrior] - 10 Minute Mail: Self-Destructing Email accounts

[Richard Forno]

Need a valid e-mail address to register but don't want the spam? Try this
Seam-based Web app
By Paul McNamara on Tue, 11/28/2006 - 10:28am
http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/9381

Here's yet another way to dodge the irksome requirement of presenting a
valid e-mail address to register for a Web site: 10 Minute Mail, a
Seam-based Web application that fills the bill just long enough to get you
onto the site Š and then disappears. No fuss, no muss, and best of all, no
spam.

Reminds me of Anonymizer Nyms, a somewhat controversial product that debuted
at our DEMOfall 2006 conference. However, unlike that $20-a-year offering,
10 Minute Mail is free. It's also reminiscent of PrefPass, another Demo
debut that aims to ease registration pains.

Here's what 10 Minute Mail developer Devon Hillard has to say about it on
his Digital Sanctuary Tech blog.

"My first Web application built using Seam is now live. It is called
10MinuteMail and you can see it at www.10MinuteMail.com."

"It gives you a temporary e-mail address, and lets you receive and reply to
e-mail sent to that address. The e-mail address expires in 10 minutes (or
more, you can extend it as you need more time). Basically I created it to
learn Seam, and to provide an easy way to avoid giving your real e-mail
address to Web sites which require an e-mail from you to sign up. Think of
it as spam avoidance."

The site has been an instant hit, too, with the help of bloggers -- which
Hillard clearly digs.

"Anyhow, I¹m proud," he writes. "Check it out, click on a Google ad or two
if you would, and let me know what you think!"

Obviously, the utility here is extremely limited and the cloak-and-dagger
crowd will have fun conjuring up all manner of nefarious uses for such a
transient communications vehicle.

Bottom line, though, is I think I'll wind up using it.