Justin Kahn
Posts: 752 +6
Based on a patent filing, Apple appears to be interested in developing a new email system that will help to better filter spam mail, among other things.
Titled, "Disposable email address generation and mapping to a regular email account," the tech proposed does just that, offering automatic and convenient disposable email addresses to users in order to keep junk mail out of their main account. The tech also has a system that will allow users to track which services were responsible for sending the junk mail.
Many people use dummy (or temporary) email addresses that are forwarded to a permanent main account in order to avoid unwanted spam. This technique allows users to give out the dummy address to services that might lead to unwanted digital junk mail. While it does work, it is likely more of a cumbersome process compared to some kind of integrated system from Apple.
The patent filing suggests these disposable accounts from Apple will be easily generated for the user, and that if or when it gets taken over by spam, users can easily ditch it for a new one without having to manually open a new temp email account somewhere. It also appears that users can choose to implement context information to a disposable address, which will allow them to see which vendor or service gave the disposable address to the third party spam sender.
Beyond that, the patent goes into various applications of the technology like graphical user interfaces for what looks like a dedicated app and a web client as well as browser extension and email client implementation.
(Thumbnail image via Shutterstock)
