Anonymous Emails

Are there any good anonymous email services that can't come back to bite you? The management my of company needs to be made aware of some things but there is a culture of punishment for the messenger. In person meetings go ignored and the messenger comes off as a whiner or being belligerent. If one wanted to send an email but not known from who, where could they go?

Basically you want to sign up for a regular free email account anonymously. From an open wifi AP, not using any real information, and avoid using it for other stuff which could tie back to your real identity. This way even if the company goes to court to try to get info on the person behind the account, they won't be able to.

If you're really serious, turn off your phone and drive to an open access point you don't usually hang around, and use an anonymized browser to sign-up and access it. Unless you work for a megacorp this is overkill.

Set up a yahoo, gmail, hotmail, anything account? Or buy a domain and send it anonymously from there?

If they ignore things in person, what makes you think an anonymous message will carry more weight?

I've done the "sign up for a random E-mail company" thing with "anonymous" as my name and sent it to a (previous) employer before with good success for exactly that reason.

If you're super paranoid, do it at the library.

10minutemail.com

I will only suggest that this kind of anonymous stuff rarely works and usually haunts both the sender and recipient.

But, having said that, library. Use a public computer and sign up for one with fake info. Don't use your computer, don't use your phone. Every login IP is recorded.

I have done it with gmail when I turned in a previous employer for wage hour infractions. They were basically using the part timers for 40 hour a week.. for months. By NJ state law, after X number of weeks at forty hours, the company -has- to offer you full time employment. Using said email did not come back to haunt me at all and benefitted the part timers being used that way

Yeah it could only come back to haunt you if the company knows who's saying it regardless of how anonymous the email is

I am aware of two cases where employees tried to send an anonymous e-mail message to upper management. In both cases the context, syntax, phrasing or other clues were enough to identify the sender. They didn't think it was necessary to look for any real evidence to support the presumptions regarding the source of the messages.

Those folks don't work here anymore.

In at least one case the criticism was valid and justified and management took prompt corrective action. They fired the messenger anyway.

The Feds gave instructions to the Russians they thought they were hiring as spies on how to be anonymous. Turns out those Russians were spies, but not for the U.S. Dig up a copy of those instructions. Gameboy, your Google-Fu is strong. Give it a try. But basically it was: Buy a laptop used or for cash somewhere. Leave it off. Go to a public wifi, preferably outside of said wifi. Connect, make a free email somewhere, send email, receive email the same way. Turn it off. Only use that laptop for connecting to that one free email site. There were more hints, maybe involving not carrying a phone or something, but that's off the top of my head. Thank the U.S. Federal Government for these instructions.

What Hess says is correct and is the safest way to do this, but unless you're planning to be the next Edward Snowden it's massive overkill.

If they are going to punish the messenger, then they don't DESERVE to know!!!

BTW do change your writing style for this. First write it like you usually would, then go back and rephrase things with sentence structures and words you don't normally use. Think of the kind of writing you see other people do that annoys you and you would never do yourself.

NGTD wrote: If they are going to punish the messenger, then they don't DESERVE to know!!!

This would appear to be correct

PSA--Threads like this are extremely easy to uncover in the discovery phase of a lawsuit (if it ever comes to that) and easy to connect to individuals; your browsing history and Google search history are also subject to subpoena, so be aware.

How about old school...typed page, then printed and sent via Fed Ex overnight or similar.
Signature required would get it to your person.
Pay cash under assumed name.
Sending it from elsewhere could throw off the trail such as have it sent from the home HQ city to keep suspicion off of you or send from somewhere far away.

If you would like it sent from Northern Ohio, send the letter to me, I will pull it out of that envelope and Fed Ex it where you like, to who you like.

tuna55 wrote: If you're super paranoid, do it at the library.

And wear nylon gloves.

Nope too many easy traceables, way more than an email from a new anonymous account. If lawyers found this thread everything would be spelled out for them here. Then there's the email between your two regular accounts.

And if the opponent is really serious about tracking you down it gets worse. It'll be hard to keep your fingerprints and DNA off of everything mailed, and most printouts are practically signed with the printer serial and a datestamp.

Is there somebody at work you don't like that doesn't lock their PC when they go to lunch? Sending a note to the boss from their own account can be fun too.

^ that's evil genius

In reply to Rob_Mopar:

We usually just set their desktop background to "Hello Kitty" or something equally annoying (like taking a screen shot, creating a folder, moving all of their icons into this folder, then set the screen shot as their desktop, talk about annoying).

Send the email from your work account. When they fire you, sue their balls off for violation of federal whistleblower laws, retire to a life of motorsports leisure.

guerrillamail.com is another temp email service. It even allows you to pick your own email e.g. FUmegacorp@gr.com

I considered this a lot with a previous employer.

I came to the conclusion that there was no such thing as anonymity (including the library).

I also came to decide that I wasn't going to be a coward, even if they were.

If I wasn't prepared to tell them face to face, they didn't need to know. If they fired me, they didn't deserve to have me as an employee.

I told them the things that needed to be said, and weeded out the things that were truthfully just about my own pride.

I no longer work there. No regrets.

Find another employer that appreciates your skills and values your input, and you can decide if your still want to let these guys know what they could improve on during your exit from the company.