Sooner or later the time will come when you want or need to have an email address.

You may already know that there are many free web based email service providers available, but how do you decide which one of these services is right for you?

One of the things you should consider when making this decision is how anonymous you will be when utilizing these services.

A good reason for not using one of the bigger well known services (such as Hotmail™) is that in general, these services will reveal your originating IP address when sending outgoing emails.

Your IP address may be used to determine or at least narrow down your location. However, some web based email service providers have chosen not to reveal IP addresses with outgoing email. Below is a list of such service providers.

• SafeMail has more IP Info here.

Please remember that even though these email service providers listed below are considered to offer a higher level of anonymity than most, they will still be forced to provide your IP address to the relevant authorities if served with a warrant. If you refrain from discussing activities that may be considered sensitive or illegal and stay away from child pornography this should not become a problem to you.

Small TIP - External links will open in a new browser window.

Fee-based Email Services

These days free web based mail services are becoming less reliable and even the big guys are talking about fees for extra services like POP3/ mail forwarding. Most email services will require some information when you sign up. You should, if possible only give fictitious information when filling out these application forms.

Free (pseudo-anonymous)
Web Based Email Services

All web based email services will require some information when you sign up. You should, of course only give fictitious information when filling out these application forms.

Services listed below did not reveal originating IP addresses with outgoing emails at the time of testing. If you become aware of any changes to these services or notice any discrepancies in the information listed please notify me at   safemail@glgarden.org

Free (anonymous)
Web Based Email Services

The remailers listed below offer a higher level of security than the pseudo anonymous email services in the list above.

A discussion of remailers is beyond the scope of this FAQ. To understand the difference between pseudo-anonymous and anonymous email service providers please see;

• André Bacard's   -   Anonymous Remailer FAQ.

If you desire a higher level of security it is possible to set up a free email account utilizing chained remailers this type of account is known as a Nym account. When carefully set up, Nym accounts are practically untraceable. While it is possible to set up and maintain a Nym account manually it would be a tedious job and prone to error. If you are a Windows user and decide that this is the type of email account you would like to operate, you can do no better than using;

• Jack B. Nymble's remailer client
  -   Jack B. Nymble v2.1.4