Apple Changes Hide My Email, User Privacy Can Be More Easily Attacked

Apple's logo in New York. (Photo: China Daily)

Apple plans to change the Hide My Email feature in iCloud+. This change can make it easier for users' anonymous email addresses to be recognized by apps and websites.

According to a report by TechCrunch, quoted on Friday, June 19, Hide My Email has been one of Apple's privacy features that allows paid iCloud+ users to create random email addresses when registering online services, without opening their original email addresses.

The spoofed email uses the @icloud.com domain. The domain is the part of the email address after the @ sign. Because the domain is the same as the Apple user's email address, it is difficult for apps and websites to distinguish which email is real and which is anonymous.

However, Apple told developers that in the coming weeks anonymous email addresses from the Hide My Email feature will be moved to the @private.icloud.com domain.

This change is technical. But the impact can be felt immediately. With the new domain, apps and websites will be easier to mark email addresses that come from Apple's privacy features. In the end, anonymous registration can be more easily blocked.

Apple states that the old address still works. Incoming emails are also forwarded to the user's original address without interruption. However, email application and service providers are asked to update the filtering system so that messages for Hide My Email users are still sent.

This change has drawn criticism from a number of Apple users on Reddit. They assessed that the domain transfer actually made Hide My Email more difficult to use.

TechCrunch noted that Apple has not given an explanation for the reason for the change. This issue comes amid greater attention to digital anonymity. Earlier this year, TechCrunch reported that Apple had handed over the original account information of a user who used Hide My Email to send an email allegedly containing threats to FBI Director Kash Patel's girlfriend.

In the past year, the Trump administration has also been accused of trying to open the identities of a number of anonymous accounts, including those of his critics, through legal summons to technology companies.

For users, including in Indonesia, this change should be noted. Many people use a pseudonym email to avoid spam, aggressive promotions, data leaks, or simply don't want to be too easily tracked when registering an application.

The problem is, if the private email domain is easy to recognize, its protection function is reduced. Hide My Email may still work. But the ability to hide user identities is no longer as strong as before.