Unethical?
A new service has just launched which allows you to get an email address that only lasts 10 minutes. See 10minutemail.com.
That’s right…10 minutes.
Essentially what this means is that when you get to those pages on a website which require you to provide an email address and a name before getting the content on the subsequent page, you can simply grab a 10minutemail.com address, sign up for the item, get it from your email, and do nothing further. The email address will simply “self-destruct”.
I know that there are some folks out there cheering this on because they get so tired of being “required” to give out personal information before receiving either their free gift, complimentary offer, whatever you’re seeking at the time.
However, the people providing this offer to you as a subscriber have gone to some lengths to get that information to you. The “price” that you pay is your email address. Would you rather be charged for the product? I guess it all depends on what your email address is worth to you.
I honestly believe that this is a very short-lived but noteworthy item. Many websites already prevent certain email addresses from being used such as a hotmail.com or ayahoo.com address and this will simply be another one that is blocked by savvy website owners.
It’s obvious that if you choose to use an email address such as this, you are doing nothing more than stealing. You obviously have no intention of being a trustworthy person.
A little harsh? I don’t think so. Since many online marketers offer a double-opt in, which essentially means that you have to confirm your email address before receiving any additional email, and you are given the opportunity to unsubscribe at any time, there is no reason at all to not use a real, working email address.
Obviously if you have visited the website they offer something of value to you so it would make sense that you would want to receive other valuable items and information as well.
If you don’t, it’s simply stealing.
What do you think?
- K
Ever hear of spam? Is it stealing when the site I provide my email address too sells it to someone else who will use it to send me spam?
Comment by huh? — December 13, 2006 @ 6:55 pm
Exactly. IF every site that made your provide your e-mail was honest with it, then there wouldn’t be this issue. However, most of them sell, give, or lose their e-mail lists into the hands of spammers, who then abuse that e-mail address for the next 5 years. The vast majority of this spam has no unsubscribe link and comes from bot nets, and advertises for hundreds of different scam companies and products.
Have you never gotten spam like this? I get over 300 a day. No unsubscribe links, no real contact information, fake from addresses, etc….
Comment by Wheee — February 25, 2007 @ 1:46 am
Hi Wheee –
I guess it all comes down to how confident you are in the website you are visiting. While spam is an issue (and yes, I get them too, but I also filter them via my spam filter so I don’t see most of them), I have to disagree that “most” websites practice selling their emails.
Our family of websites for example, do not.
While I agree with you that some do, it’s unfortunate that it’s those bad eggs who have created an aura of suspicion for everyone.
Where the issues arise, is that most people automatically believe that their email just MUST have been sold because all of a sudden they’re receiving email from A, B and C and “they never signed up”.
Most often, people have opted in to lists via larger companies, they just don’t remember doing it.
While I am fully aware that there are bots that scour the Internet for unprotected email addresses, I do find that most of the time, it’s when the person forgot that they opted in to receive additional mails from partners and such.
If you’ve ever posted to a forum, blog, or newsgroup that contained your email address, it’s out there.
Personally, we use a double-opt-in but then again, we also offer an unsubscribe link in all of our emails.
I guess this is a long way of saying that just because their are a few bad eggs out there does not mean that everyone, or even most everyone should fall into this boat.
Maybe we’ll see the day where there’s a do not email list from the government. But considering how long it took them to enact a do not call list, I’m not holding my breath that this will happen sometime soon.
Best to you and thank you for your comment!
Kristine
Comment by Kristine - A WAHM — February 25, 2007 @ 9:11 am
i luv 10min email i use all the time
Comment by lol — November 27, 2008 @ 4:31 pm