Author Topic: Email spy pixels  (Read 2679 times)

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Offline Maik

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Email spy pixels
« on: Wednesday, 17 February, 2021 @ 07:08:01 »
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Spy pixels in emails 'have become endemic'

Hey's review indicted that two-thirds of emails sent to its users' personal accounts contained a "spy pixel", even after excluding for spam.

Its makers said that many of the largest brands used email pixels, with the exception of the "big tech" firms.

Defenders of the trackers say they are a commonplace marketing tactic.

And several of the companies involved noted their use of such tech was referenced within their wider privacy policies.

Emails pixels can be used to log:

    if and when an email is opened
    how many times it is opened
    what device or devices are involved
    the user's rough physical location, deduced from their internet protocol (IP) address - in some cases   
    making it possible to see the street the recipient is on
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56071437

Offline TonyD

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Re: Email spy pixels
« Reply #1 on: Wednesday, 17 February, 2021 @ 09:02:53 »
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Spy pixels in emails 'have become endemic'

Emails pixels can be used to log:

    if and when an email is opened
    how many times it is opened
    what device or devices are involved
    the user's rough physical location, deduced from their internet protocol (IP) address - in some cases   
    making it possible to see the street the recipient is on
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56071437

Outlook has a default setting of blocking images.
In this mode, these tracking pixels are ineffective.
However, Click on Download Images, and they become Live!

There are anti-tracking plugins for webmail users (GMail etc)

Offline Maik

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Re: Email spy pixels
« Reply #2 on: Wednesday, 17 February, 2021 @ 14:33:36 »
Thunderbird also blocks remote images by default. I believe Yahoo email does, too.