On CNET: "Nowhere to hide: who really reads your e-mail?"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Old news for most web-savvy surfers, and a wake-up call for the rest. Very, very easy to avoid being bitten by this one.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3000_7-5138076-1.html?tag=cnetfd.sd

"The people in my personal focus group (my wife, my mother, and some coworkers at CNET) agree that this is one of the creepiest things they've ever heard of: a new service that will tell your correspondents exactly when you opened the e-mail they sent you. It will also tell them how long you took to read their message and which computer you used to do so. The kicker: You'll never know all this information is being collected. It's a supercharged return receipt that's completely invisible.

The service is called DidTheyReadIt. What it does is insert a small tracking device, often called a Web bug, into the e-mail that you want to track. When your recipient opens your message, the bug (a one-pixel, transparent GIF file) is pulled from the DidTheyReadIt server, generating a logged event that shows when the message was opened and for how long.

DidTheyReadIt adds presence to e-mail; with this live tracking, e-mail becomes similar to instant messaging. With IM, you can tell if your recipient is online and awake; with e-mail, to date, you haven't been able to. DidTheyReadIt changes that. In fact, it goes beyond IM, by hiding the fact that people are watching your activity. Most IM systems at least require that you approve the addition of people to your buddy list before they can see your presence."

http://www.didtheyreadit.com/

...and:

"Disable didtheyreadit.com email tracking bugs"

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20040523221845391

...and for more information on who is reading your e-mail:



"The Singing Senators are Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont on tenor, Larry Craig of Idaho on lead, John Ashcroft of Missouri on baritone, and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi singing bass."

http://www.oakridgeboys.com/Pages/senators_branson.html

[ThoughtCriminal]

1. Turn off graphics and HTML

I don't think it can work unless you view the image and it links back to a site.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

2. Exactly.

I don't download any graphics in HTML mail. It's the request for the "image" (which, in the case of web bugs, will often be a 1 pixel x 1 pixel "clear gif" that you won't see anyway) that gets logged on the originating server, with the IP address of the requester. If you don't request it, you don't get logged.

[oostevo]

3. This will be horrible when spammers get it ...

(assuming they don't already do something similar)

Now they can validate their addresses without you having to click "Remove me from your list"

[ThoughtCriminal]

4. Never click on the "Remove" link

All it does is confirm that it is a live address. Spammers love it.

[w13rd0]

5. They already do it...

...all of the spam that is HTML that consists of a bunch of "hidden text" that looks like a news article (so in autopreview it almost looks legit) but is really just a big image hawking some stupid crap. My system blocks all that crap out, and I only read mail in plain ASCII text. Screw their stupid "Didyoudeleteit" crap...dumbasses.

[Massacure]

6. spammers already do have it

Why do you think all those porno emails have 1 picture in them? When you dowload that picture, they know who to send more email to.

That is why MSN's hotmail blocked all images until you specifically tell it to open it up.

[KoKo]

7. If I turn this off does that mean I can't receive any pictures or cartoons

or other images folks send me. What about folks who send webpages for articles. Does turning off "loading images in html" mean your mail won't accept any of that anymore?

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

8. In Outlook...

...I have it turned off. When a message comes in all of the pictures are missing. If I right-click in the message, the pictures are downloaded.

I should dump Outlook, because it is probably the #1 hacker/spammer-targeted e-mail program in existence. Old habits die hard, though...I just crank up ZoneAlarm and Norton Anti-Virus, and run Adaware and Spybot once a week. Eventually I'll retire Outlook.

Accepting files or any sort, even from trusted friends, can be a real roll of the dice. If you have a good firewall and anti-virus program, it helps...but it's no guarantee. A virus / trojan horse can masquerade as a file with a "legitimate" extension...they are NOT all ".exe" files.

"Forwarded" items such as photos, cartoons, web pages, etc. have the potential...even if they come from a friend...to be bad news. Also, NEVER click directly on ANY URL in an e-mail message...copy and paste it into your browser, and only if you know and trust the sender.

Also, remember that one of many ways that a virus or trojan "works" is to hijack the e-mail address book of the "infected" computer and send itself to everyone on that list. I received one of these and can attest to it...fortunately my anti-virus app caught it.

The text of the URL may look legitimate but it can redirect you to "fake" sites...do a Google search on "spam trap" for more on that.

[LearnedHand]

12. Try Thunderbird

It's a WONDERFUL alternative to Trashcan Express.

www.mozilla.com

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

14. Thanks, but how does it compare to "regular" Outlook?...

...I don't use Outlook Express. I like the Mozilla browser, and have heard good things about Thunderbird.

I used Eudora in my last job...didn't like it, mainly because it caused a massive drain on system resources and forces a reboot when you close (it doesn't release memory on exit), but maybe it's changed...and have heard pros and cons regarding "The Bat." I have Earthlink and do use the Web Mail (with SpamBlocker set to "high"...until I add a user to my address book, the message sits in the spam "holding cell.")

[BeFree]

9. Images on DU

When you open an image on DU, the site that hosts the image gets an address of you. The address is not much more than a regional address, but it's a start.

When you open an linked image in your email, it can be an image with a specific host and file that is related to your email address. That's how they can tell you read their mail.

The best bet is to go offline before reading your emails. Better yet is to preview your emails on web-mail, delete the spam and download to your email reader only those you want.

[KoKo]

10. I use Netscape 7.1 and Earthlink for my e-mail. I've stayed away from

Outlook and IE because of all the stories about their security being awful. Netscape's pop-up blocker and Earthlinks spam and virus protection on my e-mails in addtion to Norton has been a huge help. Before getting the Earthlink block I was getting klez viruses in waves from e-mails.

But, this tracking thing looks sinister. Just don't know if I want to block family photos and images I get from people I know just to avoid the trackers. :shrug:

[BeFree]

13. Unless your friends are tracking you

You've nothing to fear.

Only those friends who know how the web works would ever be able to mess with ya using images.

But the ultimate protection from tracking is to view messages Offline.

BTW: maybe DU needs a forum about web issues? A place to get and give web advice. Lord knows I sure could have used such a place. Still could.

[KoKo]

15. You know that's a great idea! I've gotten so much great help from folks

here (and some weird stuff, too) but most of it has been tips from our "techies" which I wouldn't know about being a "challenged PC user."

Do you think Skinner would go for it?

[West Coast Democrat]

11. My boss reads all of her emails through the preview pane....

and then she wonders why she gets tons and tons of spam. I tried to explain all of this to her before, but she still uses the preview pane.

[KoKo]

16. OMG...what's a "preview pane?" Seriously...I've never heard of that one.

:shrug: I know "viewing offline" and viewing when your mail comes in and you check out the address and url and then hit the download, but this is a new one.