No Chrome extension can know which images are being used to track email opens. If you want to disable that sort of tracking you should disable images/external resources completely. Otherwise you're just getting a false sense of security.
I use (al)pine. Nobody has ever, in any way, received information about my email opens.
I speed through email with keystrokes and zero mouse movement, and I can use email with ease on even the slowest of satellite or 2G network access.
Finally - and this is my favorite part - since I use pine, and my engineers at rsync.net also use pine, not one single intra-company email has ever traversed the Internet. Ever.
All intra-company email is simply a local copy operation on a single mail server.
I mean, one can legitimately want that they do not receive the tracking information. But are there any real security implications, like siphoning off any unauthorized data, facilitating spam, etc?
- Could be used for entrapment, that is to say, could send over potentially criminal information and argue that the user did in fact "receive" it since it was read.
- If you could inject your own tracker into someone else's email, you might also gleam when and potentially how they read that email.
- One funny thing that came to mind. In Australian contract law (likely similar to the UK from which the laws were adopted), if you email someone an your acceptance to a offer, that acceptance is deemed as received when the email is read (the person becomes aware of the acceptance). Where as with regular postal mail, the offer is accepted when posted (the "postal rule", a nice headache). If you had a tracking code, it would be harder to to argue you weren't aware of the acceptance by email. That is unless your email client pre-fetches images before the email itself is opened...
Isn't this redundant unless I accept images? I get:"Images are not displayed. Display images below - Always display images from [email protected]" (for example).
I generally use Thunderbird and while I have not checked what it does in all cases, it generally flags when there is remote content and provides options regarding loading it. I'm happy with that. I know many folk of course use web based mail readers, and this is directed at them, but if its a big issue using a product like Thunderbird may be the way to.
"[...] Google spokesperson I emailed said that’s not entirely correct. (The spokesperson declined to be quoted.) Instead, they said marketers who track open rates through images will still be able to do so — indeed, they suggested that the data might be more accurate now since open rates will count users who read the emails but don’t load the images."
Sounds like Google made sure tracking works even when users attempt to evade it.
But another quote in the same article still talks about pixels:
"MailChimp can still detect the first request for the open-tracking pixel."
unfortunately not, adblock blocks ad related media only. This is one of the few tools that will intelligently block people from tracking your email views/opens
I thought that too, but no. It seems it replaces the original link with a google url, which is basically a proxy address for that original url. It seems they may cache it, but don't preemptively download it when the mail is received.
Obviously if they downloaded any image linked to an email send to gmail that could lead to a DOS, and be very wasteful in any case. So they wait until you actually open the email. But at least it obscures your IP unless you click on the links.
[+] [-] bramgg|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rsync|11 years ago|reply
I speed through email with keystrokes and zero mouse movement, and I can use email with ease on even the slowest of satellite or 2G network access.
Finally - and this is my favorite part - since I use pine, and my engineers at rsync.net also use pine, not one single intra-company email has ever traversed the Internet. Ever.
All intra-company email is simply a local copy operation on a single mail server.
[+] [-] nine_k|11 years ago|reply
I mean, one can legitimately want that they do not receive the tracking information. But are there any real security implications, like siphoning off any unauthorized data, facilitating spam, etc?
[+] [-] nness|11 years ago|reply
- Could be used for entrapment, that is to say, could send over potentially criminal information and argue that the user did in fact "receive" it since it was read.
- If you could inject your own tracker into someone else's email, you might also gleam when and potentially how they read that email.
- One funny thing that came to mind. In Australian contract law (likely similar to the UK from which the laws were adopted), if you email someone an your acceptance to a offer, that acceptance is deemed as received when the email is read (the person becomes aware of the acceptance). Where as with regular postal mail, the offer is accepted when posted (the "postal rule", a nice headache). If you had a tracking code, it would be harder to to argue you weren't aware of the acceptance by email. That is unless your email client pre-fetches images before the email itself is opened...
[+] [-] dublinben|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|11 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] nickphx|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ibejoeb|11 years ago|reply
The proxy effectively prevents cookie setting, ip address determination and geolocation, and injection-type attacks.
[+] [-] ibejoeb|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ramoq|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Paul_S|11 years ago|reply
On a serious note: just block remote content.
[+] [-] nthcolumn|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] monk_e_boy|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 69_years_and|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zurn|11 years ago|reply
"[...] Google spokesperson I emailed said that’s not entirely correct. (The spokesperson declined to be quoted.) Instead, they said marketers who track open rates through images will still be able to do so — indeed, they suggested that the data might be more accurate now since open rates will count users who read the emails but don’t load the images."
Sounds like Google made sure tracking works even when users attempt to evade it.
But another quote in the same article still talks about pixels:
"MailChimp can still detect the first request for the open-tracking pixel."
[+] [-] unknown|11 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] wodenokoto|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ramoq|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] RRRA|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] angry_octet|11 years ago|reply
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/images-now-showing....
Obviously if they downloaded any image linked to an email send to gmail that could lead to a DOS, and be very wasteful in any case. So they wait until you actually open the email. But at least it obscures your IP unless you click on the links.
[+] [-] hackread|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] esMazer|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pearknob|11 years ago|reply