Using fake email addresses to protect your privacy

Have you ever used a fake name when signing up for a new service online as a way to protect your privacy?

Turns out, that doesn’t do a lot to keep companies from tracking you. But using an alternative or fake email address is an easy, and more effective, way to protect your privacy.

Many big tech companies are sharing details about almost everything you do on the internet. That includes what you search, the websites you visit and the people you connect with online. But how do they know who you are?

“One of the main ways that they do it is tying your identity together using your email address,” explained Thomas Germain, Consumer Reports tech editor.

If you want to limit that, Consumer Reports says you might want to try an alternative or fake email service.

“There are a number of these tools and they all work a little bit differently but basically, they give you an alternative email that isn’t tied to your real identity that you can plug in when you’re signing up on a new website,” said Germain.

Maybe you’ve seen “Sign in with Apple” on some sites. It generates a random, unique email address for Apple users. Then, any emails from that site can be forwarded to your regular inbox—without companies ever knowing your real address.

The upside: you get the emails you need without being tracked.

The Firefox browser offers Firefox Relay, which allows users to create up to five fake email addresses for free, or get unlimited ones for 99 cents a month.

“And then there are a number of temporary email services that give you an email inbox you can use, but then it self-destructs after about 10 minutes,” added Germain.

For most temporary email services, you don’t even have to create an account. 10MinuteMail, Temp-Mail, Minute Inbox and EmailOnDeck are popular services.

When would something like this come in handy? Maybe when you’re asked for an email address to get an instant online discount.

And the added bonus to using any “fake” email address: less spam in your “real” inbox.

You may think creating an extra Gmail or other email account will keep big tech from tracking you, but Consumer Reports says if you’re using the same devices, companies will easily be able to identify you.