How do I keep websites from seeing my email address?

[johnjohn320]

I am so sick and tired of receiving junk mail from websites that I visit. A friend of mine said cookies in your browser enable the server to see your default email address. Will disabling cookies in my security options (I'm using IE btw) keep websites from seeing my email address?

 

[Zenmervolt]

Yes, turning off cookies would cut down on some of your junk E-mail, but now that companies have that address you are pretty much screwed. The companies sell E-mail addresses to other companies, and now that you have that E-mail account out there, you are pretty much stuck with the spam. Also, disabling cookies will also curtail the functionality of some websites (cookies can be used for good and not evil). My solution was to keep two E-mail addresses, one that I never check, which is used only for forms that require an E-mail address, and another E-mail address that I only give to friends. That way about 99% of the junk mail goes to my "fake" E-mail account and my real account stays clean.

Zenmervolt

 

[jaydee]

Just set up a junk mail account, and tell all the web sites that one.

 

[jaydee]

Darn too late.

 

[StageLeft]

As far as I know its impossible for a server to grab info off your computer through cookies that it did not give you. Thats how cookies are setup. They are not gremlins that steal personal info.

Website A gives you some information and website B gives you some. A cannot get what B gave and B cannot get what A gave. Since no website gave you your email address unless you tell it to them they cannot get it.

 

[syzygy]

can you scrap your current isp ? or use an alternate one ? your ip address with the service you have been using has been shared with entire industrialized world. spammers that have not yet been born will be paying for a list of addresses that will include yours to ply their evil trade. look to change isp.

disabling cooking is only damage control. running yourself through proxies, reporting the spammers who are now hitting you, and blocking out advertisers are among your options.

 

[StageLeft]

What can a spammer do with your IP? Somebody illegally can gain access to your computer but any website in the world has the ability to easily get your IP address, so you can change your IP but others can get it again.

 

[johnjohn320]

Skoorb, you're wrong. My cousin got caught looking up porn websites because they sent porn-mail to his dad's address. He never filled out anything obviously, just visited them.

 

[StageLeft]

Well I've gotten porn emails as well - its just regular spam. Are you SURE of this? Because the last time I was reading through an asp book about cookies they specifically stated what I said; that a site cannot steal information from your computer.

EDIT: Just checked again, I'm about 99.9% sure its impossible for a cookie to obtain any information from your computer that is not readily available with or without cookies. All they do is place a small text file on your computer and they populate it themselves and can later access that text file. So if you didn't give a server your email address it can't steal it from your computer.