Guerrilla Mail is a free disposable email address service launched in 2006. It offers both the ability to send and receive email. Visitors do not need to register to use the service, they are logged in automatically and a random email address is issued on each visit or they can set their own address. Email is kept for one hour before it is deleted.
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Uses
Guerrilla Mail is useful when "you don't want to give out your real email address to register for a site". In order to avoid potential spam, a user may provide a Guerrilla Mail address instead. Zainab Munib of AddictiveTips blog wrote, "most users feel uncomfortable in [using their real email] because of the resultant plethora of spam and promotional emails that bombard [their] inbox."
Guerrilla Mail can be used to try out and review many online services, while safeguarding the user's personal address, as noted by Aditya Kane from the "Devils' Workshop" blog.
When compared to other disposable email services, one of the most distinguishing features of Guerrilla Mail is that it can also be used for sending email, including emails with attachments.
Reception
A year after Edward Snowden's first revelations in June 2013, it was noted that more mainstream internet users were becoming interested in protecting their privacy online and were seeking technologies that hid identity. Guerrilla Mail has been recommended because it does not require any registration or personal information. In September 2014, Heather Somerville, journalist for the San Jose Mercury News, also noted a growing trend for anonymity online and mentioned that "[Guerrilla Mail] has done nearly half of its business in the past year".
Controversy
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. It was alleged in an affidavit that the student accessed Guerrilla Mail through the Tor (anonymity network). Additionally, the affidavit mentioned that he was “motivated by a desire to avoid a final exam scheduled to be held on [Monday].”