Apple adjusted its previous plans to change the Hide My Email function. This privacy tool for iCloud+ pay-as-you-go users was intended to change the suffix from @icloud.com to @private.icloud.com. After continuous user questioning, apples have now confirmed that they will not advance this change.
User objects to suffix changes
Hide My Email can generate an independent or one-off e-mail address for users to register, subscribe to or receive mail in lieu of a genuine mailbox, which is still forwarded to the user's usual inbox.
The point of contention is that if @private.icloud.com were to be used in a uniform way, it would be easier for the site to identify such addresses and to stop them directly at the time of registration. In the view of the users, this would diminish the practical effect of the function in hiding identity.
Apple confirmed to keep @icloud.com
Apple confirmed on Monday that the Hide My Email address “continues” retained the suffix of @icloud.com, reversing the company’s earlier announced course of adjustment.
Apple didn't explain the reason for the change. John Gruber, the author of Daring Fireball, who first reported on this change, said that inside the apples there had been opposition to this adjustment.
I've been exposed to a leak in the mailbox.
This function also received attention earlier this year because of loopholes. Media reported at the time that Hide My Email had a defect that could expose the user ' s real mailbox address.
Apples then repaired the problem. However, the report mentions a time lag of more than one year from the first time an apple learned about a loophole to its final completion. The loophole is that when mail is rejected because of spam rules, the system may reveal the true e-mail address of the covered user.