[Solved]Email Tracking Blocker
-
A Former User last edited by leocg
Does anyone know of an email tracking blocker add on to use in gmail (in Opera running on Windows)?
-
sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer last edited by
Why would you need one? I'd think Opera's built in adblock should do that already - what the email client doesn't do already. One of the bigger trackers is the embedded images - do not click on the "Load images" button or any links if you don't want them to know you saw the email. But other trackers such as "web bugs" that are not specific to email are already blocked in Opera.
-
A Former User last edited by
Thanks for the reply. I think maybe I didn't pose the question correctly. I'm referring to programs that people use to see if/when you've opened their emails. I'd like to block those programs. Is that what you're referring to here as well?
-
sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer last edited by
Most of the time tracking is done by embedded images. The server that hosts the images is designed so that each image has a unique address; if anyone requests to load that image they know the email was read since that is the only place it is shown. (Emails can also have a "Delivery confirmation requested" flag, but most mail clients ignore that anyway so it is basically useless.)
Of course any sort of external embed (not just images) could be used as a tracker, as long as they give it a unique address.
Though as I mentioned, links are typically the same. A recent email I got has links such as domain.com/t/10920060/86749798/92394/9/ (actual domain name changed of course), if I clicked on it they would know I was the one who did so.
-
A Former User last edited by
So in Gmail, you can choose whether or not you want external images displayed automatically. If I choose not to, would that have any impact on whether someone with an email tracker can tell that I'm opening their email? This is slightly over my head so I apologize if I'm causing you to repeat yourself.
-
sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer last edited by
If you are not loading external images (if they are not loaded automatically there will be a button to load them manually - only use it for people you don't mind knowing you read the message) then you should be safe enough. Messages can also include actual attached images that are part of the message itself - displaying those does not tell anybody you read the message and so they are usually shown automatically.
Mind you, I once had a scammer claim to have incriminating video of me to get me to send him some money, but his technical claims were impossible as well as the fact I hadn't dome anything I would consider incriminating so I knew going in it was a scam. One of his claims was that he'd sent the message from my own email account (despite the fact the From address was not mine) ... and another was that he'd placed a "web bug" in the message and would know I had read it.
There's a possibility that some email clients would automatically load embedded images, but normally Gmail is not one of them. It - and most other email clients - can be configured to load images automatically, but you should not do that. Those links that say "View message in browser"? Same as images - not unless you trust the sender.
-
A Former User last edited by
Okay, thank you. That makes sense. I switched it over so it won't download images automatically and I can select those that I trust. I appreciate you taking the time to lay it out for me - much appreciated!
