Is it possible to find out someones e-mail address by just knowing
their name and where they live?

Good morning!

It is *sometimes* possible to find someone's e-mail address with only
their name and address to go on.

There is no 100% foolproof way of discovering that information - if
someone has taken pains to ensure that their e-mail address has not
been associated with personal information, has not registered for
online directories, or has opted out of online directories, the
chances are very slim.  Additionally, if they've recently changed
e-mail addresses, you may find an old (possibly non-functioning) one
instead.

(I tested several resources to see how my own privacy protection
measures are holding up.  So far, so good, though I did uncover two
e-mail addresses I had six years ago!)

One of the easiest methods to try is to simply Google the person in
question with the following string:

[ "John Doe" HisTown e-mail ]

Try the same search on Usenet, easily accessible through Google
Groups:

Google Groups
http://groups.google.com

There are a number of directories you can use to try to locate an
e-mail address.  Caveat:  Not all directories have all information,
and no directory is guaranteed to find anyone's address.  If one
doesn't have what you need, try another.

Internet Address Finder
http://www.iaf.net/frames/freeresources.htm

Yahoo People Search
http://people.yahoo.com/

FreshAddress.com allows you to search on just first and last name in
the Advance Search.  You have to register to use the service, but
registration is free:

FreshAddress
http://www.freshaddress.com

InfoSpace WhitePages Email Search
http://www.infospace.com/

MESA - Meta Email Search Agent
http://mesa.rrzn.uni-hannover.de/

WhoWhere?! Advance Email Search
http://www.whowhere.lycos.com/AdvancedE

Bigfoot - Find People
http://www.bigfoot.com/

Swithcboard.com - Find Email
http://www.switchboard.com/bin/cgiemail.dll?LNK=3:71&MEM=1

World E-mail Directory
http://www.worldemail.com/

Addresses.com
http://www.addresses.com/

MyEmailAddressIs
http://my.email.address.is/

Classmates.com is sometimes very helpful. Registration is required. 
Caveat: If your friend has included their email address, you'll have
to subscribe to get it.

Classmates.com
http://www.classmates.com

Good luck!

--Missy

Search terms:  [ "find e-mail" ]

A few thoughts on Missy's detailed response.  Of the sites mentioned,
only FreshAddress.com and Classmates contain information that is
completely self-registered and kept up-to-date.  FreshAddress claims a
database in excess of 5 million records with many accounts registering
multiple email addresses, old and new, so you can find someone's new
email address by searching on an old email address of theirs. 
Classmates claims a database of over 20 million with the primary
feature being that individuals identify their college when they
register for the service.

The vast majority of the information returned by the other sites is
old or inaccurate, and has been obtained by "spidering" the web and
looking for connections between names and email addresses wherever
they might be. These sites will provide the greatest number of matches
but you may go crazy trying to send emails to each to see which, if
any of them, are the friend you're looking for.

MESA enables you to perform a simultaneous search on a number of
sites, returning results from each.  This is a great feature except
for the fact that the sites themselves return mostly inaccurate data.

Good luck in your search.  One of these days, perhaps one of these
sites will reach the accuracy and scale necessary to provide this much
needed service.

  Internet Address Finder 
  http://www.iaf.net/frames/freeresources.htm - 
   
  Yahoo People Search 
  http://people.yahoo.com/ 
   
  FreshAddress.com allows you to search on just first and last name in
  the Advance Search.  You have to register to use the service, but
  registration is free:
   
  FreshAddress 
  http://www.freshaddress.com 
   
  InfoSpace WhitePages Email Search 
  http://www.infospace.com/ 
   
  MESA - Meta Email Search Agent 
  http://mesa.rrzn.uni-hannover.de/ 
   
  WhoWhere?! Advance Email Search 
  http://www.whowhere.lycos.com/AdvancedE 
   
  Bigfoot - Find People 
  http://www.bigfoot.com/ 
   
  Swithcboard.com - Find Email 
  http://www.switchboard.com/bin/cgiemail.dll?LNK=3:71&MEM=1 
   
  World E-mail Directory 
  http://www.worldemail.com/ 
   
  Addresses.com 
  http://www.addresses.com/ 
   
  MyEmailAddressIs 
  http://my.email.address.is/ 
   
  Classmates.com is sometimes very helpful. Registration is required.
  Caveat: If your friend has included their email address, you'll have
  to subscribe to get it.
   
  Classmates.com 
  http://www.classmates.com 
   
  Good luck! 
   
  --Missy 
   
  Search terms:  [ "find e-mail" ]

Hi doubled,

I'm not certain what the tail end of my answer is doing in your
comment, but it looks like I need to point out that, though my name is
at the bottom of that comment, I didn't write it!

--M