Event Title
The Use and Misuse of Disposable Email
Location
Science Center, Bent Corridor
Start Date
10-2-2015 12:00 PM
End Date
10-2-2015 1:20 PM
Poster Number
34
Abstract
Disposable email services offer users temporary use of a non-permanent email account with no password protection. Users generate a username and access the account by entering said username into the site. The services’ intended use is mainly for forum verification emails: the user can sign up for the forum and access the verification email from the account. Consequent emails from the forum go to this account, eliminating clutter from the user’s primary inbox. Our research aimed to investigate how users actually used the services and what personal information was revealed on these non-password protected accounts as a result. We examined several hundred thousand emails from four disposable email services (Dispostable, Mailinator, TempEmail, and MyTrashMail) and categorized them via a grounded theory method. We also marked what personal information the email contained (address, first/last name, phone number, etc). We discovered that many people used the services for reasons other than the intended use and that large amounts of personal information were revealed as a result.
Recommended Citation
Jackson, Judy, "The Use and Misuse of Disposable Email" (2015). Celebration of Undergraduate Research. 35.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/cour/2015/posters/35
Major
Technology in Music and Related Arts; Computer Science
Project Mentor(s)
Cynthia Taylor, Computer Science, College of Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago
Document Type
Poster
The Use and Misuse of Disposable Email
Science Center, Bent Corridor
Disposable email services offer users temporary use of a non-permanent email account with no password protection. Users generate a username and access the account by entering said username into the site. The services’ intended use is mainly for forum verification emails: the user can sign up for the forum and access the verification email from the account. Consequent emails from the forum go to this account, eliminating clutter from the user’s primary inbox. Our research aimed to investigate how users actually used the services and what personal information was revealed on these non-password protected accounts as a result. We examined several hundred thousand emails from four disposable email services (Dispostable, Mailinator, TempEmail, and MyTrashMail) and categorized them via a grounded theory method. We also marked what personal information the email contained (address, first/last name, phone number, etc). We discovered that many people used the services for reasons other than the intended use and that large amounts of personal information were revealed as a result.
