SECURITY
Irish firm combats spam with Mailexpire
03-05-2000
by
Free service offers disposable e-mail addresses that expire after a set period
Irish software firm Combustion Productions has launched an new service
aimed at addressing the growing problem of unwanted e-mail. Mailexpire.com
lets anyone register for a free e-mail alias with a built-in lifespan of
between 12 hours and one month.
The e-mail alias is simply a forwarding address for incoming e-mail. Any
mail received by your mailexpire address will automatically be forwarded to
your real e-mail address. When your mailexpire address expires, any further
mail sent to that address will not be forwarded to you.
The service is strictly for incoming mail: users who respond to any mail
forwarded via mailexpire will be revealing their actual e-mail addresses.
Combustion founder Jack Healy says the service is aimed at combatting
"spammers and marketing types" who purchase lists of e-mail addresses from
disreputable e-mail discussion lists and Web sites. The service effectively
lets users join a mailing list for a trial period. If, during that period,
you begin to receive unwanted e-mail forwarded via their mailexpire
address, you can reasonably conclude that your new mailing list is to blame.
Healy, 30, says he got the idea for mailexpire last summer. "I had
subscribed to a new mailing list, and shortly thereafter I found myself
plagued with get-rich-quick schemes," he said. "From then on I started
creating my own individual aliases on my mail server, and I figured this
was an advantage I could offer to individuals."
The setup of mailexpire means that visitors must give their real address to
Combustion, but Healy says their privacy policy clearly states that these
real addresses won't be used for any other purpose.
"In fact you do trust us with your real e-mail address, but for your peace
of mind you only have to trust one body instead of all the mailing lists
you want to subscribe to," he said. "It's not in our interests to abuse
people's trust."
Healy said the service, launched in February, has already provided 3,000
free aliases to users worldwide. More information from www.mailexpire.com
-end-
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