top | item 23026414

Firefox Private Relay: Generate unique, random, anonymous email addresses

38 points| dstaley | 5 years ago |relay.firefox.com | reply

6 comments

order
[+] dstaley|5 years ago|reply
It looks like this is currently in a private alpha, but the code is all open source. [1]

When Apple introduced something similar, I really wished that someone else would provide something similar. I'm glad to see Mozilla is gearing up to offer this. My main worry, though, is longevity. What happens when you sign up using a generated email address, and then Mozilla decides to shutter the service? You'd likely lose access to that email, and wouldn't be able to log into your accounts anymore. Thankfully Mozilla respects users enough that they'd probably offer ample notice so that you could change your email address.

[1] https://github.com/mozilla/fx-private-relay

[+] achecouter|5 years ago|reply
SimpleLogin [1] already does that and their aliases are more powerful. It's also open-source [2], can be self-hosted, and covers almost all platforms.

The Firefox relay seems to need SocketLabs [3], a paying and closed-source service. Haven't got my invite code yet but I would not bet on this Firefox service.

[1] https://simplelogin.io

[2] https://github.com/simple-login/app

[3] https://www.socketlabs.com/

[+] Farfromthehood|5 years ago|reply
It would still be a privacy issue for me. Mozilla would still have my real address tied to my account, and there's no mention of encryption of email content or the anonymous generated email addresses.

Still...It's a great step in the right direction!

[+] tetrisgm|5 years ago|reply
Do we know why the Firefox addon? I understand how this can work as a relay service (kind of how Craigslist generates a unique email for each thread), but I don't see the point of the addon.
[+] dstaley|5 years ago|reply
I don't think the addon is necessary. From the source it looks like it just makes it really easy to generate and autofill a new relay address.