Subject: INTTips: Fudging email addresses

From: [email protected]

Fudging email addresses

These days, it seems that in order to enjoy any type of commercial service
or other Web-page goodie via the Internet, you need to provide the site
owner with your email address--even if you don't want them to send you
anything! If you're sick of Big Brother knowing too much about you, and
you don't intend to accept any email communications from the site in
question, fudge your email address. The domain names "example.com,"
"example.org." and "example.net" have been reserved by the IANA (Internet
Assigned Numbers Authority) for experimentation and testing. You can take
advantage of these test domain names by making up a username and tacking it
onto any of these three test domain names. Simply use the format

[email protected], [email protected], or [email protected]

and replace the word "username" with any word at all. This way you remain
anonymous and your personal information remains a secret while enabling you
to enjoy the solicitor site's service with neither fear nor guilt.