Obfuscation of email addresses

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and computer program product are disclosed for facilitating two-way email communication in manner that obfuscates sender and recipient email addresses. The method includes receiving a correspondence request indication; assigning a first transaction address to a sender and a second transaction address to a recipient; receiving a message from the sender; associating the message from the sender with the first transaction address; and causing a transmission of the message from the sender to the recipient using the first transaction address. A corresponding apparatus and computer program product are also provided.

1 .- 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . An apparatus for facilitating electronic correspondence between a sender and a recipient, the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one non-transitory memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one non-transitory memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
 receive a correspondence request indication;   assign a sender identifier to the sender and a recipient identifier to the recipient;   generate a first transaction address, wherein the first transaction address comprises a first local part and a first domain part, wherein the first local part is generated by at least encoding the sender identifier with a date identifier;   generate a second transaction address, wherein the second transaction address comprises a second local part and a second domain part, wherein the second local part is generated by at least encoding the recipient identifier with the date identifier; and   assign the first transaction address to the sender and the second transaction address to the recipient.   
     
     
         22 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the first local part is generated by further applying a first hashing function, wherein the second local part is generated by further applying a second hashing function. 
     
     
         23 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the at least one non-transitory memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
 assign a transaction identifier to the correspondence request indication, wherein the sender identifier and the recipient identifier are associated with a transaction and valid for a transaction period.   
     
     
         24 . The apparatus of  claim 23 , wherein the at least one non-transitory memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further:
 receive a first message from the sender;   associate the first message from the sender with the first transaction address;   cause a first transmission of the first message to the recipient using the first transaction address, wherein the first transaction address and the second transaction address are associated with the transaction and valid for the transaction period; and   receive a transaction complete indication.   
     
     
         25 . The apparatus of  claim 24 , wherein the transaction period is terminated at a predetermined time period following receipt of the transaction complete indication. 
     
     
         26 . The apparatus of  claim 24 , wherein the first message from the sender is associated with the second transaction address, wherein the at least one non-transitory memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further associate the first message from the sender with a recipient address, wherein causing the first transmission of the first message from the sender to the recipient further comprises using the recipient address. 
     
     
         27 . The apparatus of  claim 24 , wherein the at least one non-transitory memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further:
 receive a second message from the recipient;   associate the second message with the second transaction address; and   cause a second transmission of the second message to the sender using the second transaction address.   
     
     
         28 . The apparatus of  claim 27 , wherein the second message is associated with the first transaction address, wherein the at least one non-transitory memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further associate the second message with a sender address, wherein causing the second transmission of the second message to the sender is further based on the sender address. 
     
     
         29 . A computer program product for facilitating electronic correspondence between a sender and a recipient, the computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer executable code portions stored therein, the computer executable code portions comprising program code instructions configured to:
 receive a correspondence request indication;   assign a sender identifier to the sender and a recipient identifier to the recipient;   generate a first transaction address, wherein the first transaction address comprises a first local part and a first domain part, wherein the first local part is generated by at least encoding the sender identifier with a date identifier;   generate a second transaction address, wherein the second transaction address comprises a second local part and a second domain part, wherein the second local part is generated by at least encoding the recipient identifier with the date identifier; and   assign the first transaction address to the sender and the second transaction address to the recipient.   
     
     
         30 . The computer program product of  claim 29 , wherein the first local part is generated by further applying a first hashing function, wherein the second local part is generated by further applying a second hashing function. 
     
     
         31 . The computer program product of  claim 29 , wherein the computer executable code portions comprise the program code instructions configured to:
 assign a transaction identifier to the correspondence request indication, wherein the sender identifier and the recipient identifier are associated with a transaction and valid for a transaction period.   
     
     
         32 . The computer program product of  claim 31 , wherein the computer executable code portions comprising the program code instructions configured to further:
 receive a first message from the sender;   associate the first message from the sender with the first transaction address;   cause a first transmission of the first message to the recipient using the first transaction address, wherein the first transaction address and the second transaction address are associated with the transaction and valid for the transaction period; and   receive a transaction complete indication.   
     
     
         33 . A computer-implemented method for facilitating electronic correspondence between a sender and a recipient, comprising:
 receiving a correspondence request indication;   assigning a sender identifier to the sender and a recipient identifier to the recipient;   generating a first transaction address, wherein the first transaction address comprises a first local part and a first domain part, wherein the first local part is generated by at least encoding the sender identifier with a date identifier;   generating a second transaction address, wherein the second transaction address comprises a second local part and a second domain part, wherein the second local part is generated by at least encoding the recipient identifier with the date identifier; and   assigning the first transaction address to the sender and the second transaction address to the recipient.   
     
     
         34 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 33 , wherein the first local part is generated by further applying a first hashing function, wherein the second local part is generated by further applying a second hashing function. 
     
     
         35 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 33 , further comprising:
 assigning a transaction identifier to the correspondence request indication, wherein the sender identifier and the recipient identifier are associated with a transaction and valid for a transaction period.   
     
     
         36 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 35 , further comprising:
 receiving a first message from the sender;   associating the first message from the sender with the first transaction address;   causing a first transmission of the first message to the recipient using the first transaction address, wherein the first transaction address and the second transaction address are associated with the transaction and valid for the transaction period; and   receiving a transaction complete indication.   
     
     
         37 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 36 , wherein the transaction period is terminated at a predetermined time period following receipt of the transaction complete indication. 
     
     
         38 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 36 , wherein the first message from the sender is associated with the second transaction address, the computer-implemented method further comprising associating the first message from the sender with a recipient address, wherein causing the first transmission of the first message from the sender to the recipient is further based on the recipient address. 
     
     
         39 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 36 , further comprising:
 receiving a second message from the recipient;   associating the second message with the second transaction address; and   causing a second transmission of the second message to the sender using the second transaction address.   
     
     
         40 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 39 , wherein the second message is associated with the first transaction address, the computer-implemented method further comprising associating the second message with a sender address, wherein causing the second transmission of the second message to the sender is further based on the sender address.