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Most people in HN use Disposable Email Address services like Guerrilla Mail almost on a daily basis to avoid companies spamming us or even worse: sell our email
by logronoide 6y ago
Most people in HN use Disposable Email Address services like Guerrilla Mail almost on a daily basis to avoid companies spamming us or even worse: sell our email as PII.
But bad actors also use these services to anonymize themselves and not only abuse of legit services, but commit fraudulent activities like extortion, porn revenge, identity theft... and also terrorism.
I don’t know why OVH shuts down this service, but knowing in first person how laxe OVH rules are compared to other providers, it must be a serious thing. Probably they found out they could break the law (GDPR?) seriously keeping Guerrilla Mail as a customer.
- dtech 6y ago> But bad actors also use these services to anonymize themselves I mean yes, but then you'd also have to shut down Gmail, live.com and all the dozens of free email hosters. Better make prepaid SIM cards illegal too. Oh an letters can be mailed anomalously, better make that illegal too.
- logronoide 6y agoI cannot agree more from the usage point of view. But we have to think how others see them: The difference is about the “business model” of DEA and Freemail providers. It’s easy to justify in a court that the purpose of a Freemail service is to offer email service to individuals and that’s why they ask for PII and acceptance of a ToS. Most of DEA don’t ask for PII to register (if any register at all) and the TOS if exists is against GDPR. In Europe, SIM cards (prepaid or not) must have an owner, so PII is mandatory when buying one. About anonymous letters. Do you know why the snail Mail in some European countries is “Royal Mail”? Because in the past the worst crime in a Kingdom was against the King/Queen. Anonymous mailing could cost you your life because it was a crime against the Royal Crown.
- kalleboo 6y agoLots of countries require government ID to activate prepaid SIM cards for this reason (including supposedly privacy-conscious countries like Germany) Some countries go further and require government ID to sign up for even stuff like social networks (South Korea) You propose it as a ridiculous conclusion but these are things that democratically-elected governments do.
- yaris 6y agoGood joke about Germany being privacy-conscious. From what I've read about state-of-the-art in Germany it is the most draconian state in EU (now when Britain has left).
- 3np 6y agoPrepaid SIM cards without ID verification on either purchase or activation has been disappearing/banned country by country for years now.
- CodesInChaos 6y agoGetting addresses at the big email providers anonymously is not easy. They ask for a mobile number if your IP isn't reputable enough (e.g. they're a Tor exit node).
- yc12340 6y agoThey ask for mobile phones regardless of your IP. In some countries anonymous e-mail is illegal. If your IP comes from such country, Google will _always_ ask for phone number on that account without option to refuse. Otherwise they will ask you after completing a registration (there is a delay to let you get hooked on, but Google still asks eventually). Some IP addresses are whitelisted — if you already have a "trusted" Google account, attached to that IP, or if Google recognizes your address as "corporate" or if you are an American and live in "liberal" state or... Basically, there are pockets of world, where Google does not ask it's existing accounts for phone numbers. But those pockets are shrinking and eventually you will be expected to cough up your phone. Unless you have already given Google your phone (e.g. by owning an Android device), which may create false impression, that you didn't need to.