Firefox Private Relay is a new experimental service by Firefox maker Mozilla; the (currently) invite-only service is designed to reduce unwanted emails and spam by acting as a proxy email service of sorts.
The idea is not new but Mozilla may be on to something considering that trust is important for this kind of service. Users sign-in with their Firefox account, or create a new one, to start using the service. A companion add-on for Firefox is available as well which integrates the service in Firefox.
Users of the service may use it to create alias email addresses on the fly that redirect emails sent to them to the user's "real" email address. The user is in full control of the alias and may terminate or disable the alias at any point in time to cut the connection and block any spam or unwanted emails from reaching the real email address.
Users may click on the relay button next to email fields to create an alias on the fly. The alias is automatically forwarding emails that come from that service to the real email address.
The add-on's description provides further information:
Private Relay adds UI to generate unique, random, anonymous email addresses that forward to your real address. You can use your relay addresses to sign up for apps, sites, or newsletters. When you're done with that service, you can disable or destroy the email address so you'll never receive any more emails from it. And, if the service has an incident, their data won't be linked back to you.
Some features are unclear at the time of writing because of the invite-only nature of the service. Will users be able to select different domains for the email aliases or only one? It is quite common that disposable email services and email forwarding services get blocked by Internet companies and sites. It is also unclear whether Mozilla plans to introduce a paid option or options such as custom domain, if PGP or similar is supported, and whether functionality is limited in any form (e.g. number of aliases or forwards).
Users who don't have an invite at the time may check Anonaddy, an open source service that is offering free and cheap paid accounts.
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