Guerrilla Mail is a free disposable email address service launched in 2006. Visitors are automatically assigned a random email address upon visiting the site.
Guerrilla Mail randomly generates disposable email addresses. [1] Disposable email addresses may be used as a means of spam prevention. [2] They may also be used if the user does not wish to give a real email, for example if they fear a data breach. Emails sent to addresses are kept for one hour before deletion. The site offers some choice of email domain names. [2] [3]
Guerrilla Mail was founded in 2006 in Chicago. [4]
Privacy-centered services saw an up-tick in public interest after the global surveillance disclosures beginning in 2013, especially concerning attention brought to materials leaked by Edward Snowden. According to The Mercury News in 2014, "[Guerrilla Mail] has done nearly half of its business in the past year". [4]
In December 2013, a Harvard College sophomore and Quincy House resident Eldo Kim used Guerrilla Mail to send a bomb threat to offices associated with Harvard, including the Harvard University Police Department and The Harvard Crimson , in order to delay a final exam. [5] [6] [7] It was alleged in an affidavit that the student accessed Guerrilla Mail through Tor, a fact that might've been given away in the IP address present in the email header. [8] [9]
In June 2017, it was revealed through court documents that the FBI used a social engineering technique known as phishing to target a Guerrilla Mail user. The case was unique, as it was the "first public example of the feds using a controversial update to a law allowing searches on users of anonymizing tools like Tor". [10] [11]
As of November 4, 2020, Guerrilla Mail stated on Twitter that their site had been taken down by their hosting provider, OVHCloud, due to a law enforcement request which OVHCloud refused to provide details about. [12]
However, as of August 20, 2023, sending email from Guerrilla Mail had once again been suspended. On an X social media post on the same date, Guerrilla Mail announced "We're back online! However, the sending of outgoing emails has been suspended until further notice." [13]