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Definition: burner email


An email account set up to temporarily receive messages and attachments when people do not want to divulge their primary email address. A burner email address can also be used as a permanent auxiliary account that receives unimportant messages. Signing up for free services is guaranteed to create unwanted emails because addresses are sold to marketing organizations for extra revenue. It takes very little time for an email address to wind up on countless mailing lists and even the Dark Web.

Hindsight Is 20/20
The list below is a tiny fraction of unwanted emails that Alan Freedman, author of this encyclopedia, receives every day. Because he routinely downloads numerous white papers and subscribes to many services just to see how they work, his email address has been sold and resold countless times. Had he set up a research burner address 20 years ago, these messages would not wind up in his primary Gmail account. Fortunately, they fall under the Promotions tab, allowing him to manually scan and trash 99% of them very quickly. See burner phone, Dark Web and spam.