The method can be employed in scenarios where someone may sell or release an individual's email address to spam lists or other unethical entities.
[2] If a disposable email address normally used for non-controversial purposes starts to be used in a manner not intended by the creator, it can be easily canceled.
Examples of this are the accidental release of an email to a spam list or if the address was procured by spammers.
The contact with whom a DEA is shared never learns the user's real email address.
[3] If used properly, DEA can also help identify which recipients handle email addresses carelessly or illegitimately.
By comparison, the traditional practice of giving the same email address to multiple recipients means that if that address subsequently changes, many legitimate recipients need to receive notification of the change and update their records — a potentially tedious process.
Additionally, because the access has been narrowed down to one contact, that entity then becomes the most likely point of compromise for any spam that the account receives (see "filtering" below for exceptions).
The advantage of this approach is that the user can easily detect which auxiliary email is 'leaking' with spam and block or dispose of it.
Although DEA, or specifically sub-addressing, can help individuals detect when breaches occur and avoid incoming spam, they may not always be effective.
[10] This would mean that emails are forwarded directly to the primary address and the individual does not benefit from their use of sub-addressing.