bebenj1
join:2004-07-03
Pittsburgh, PA
| reply to Logan 5
Re: Ummmmmmm ok.
said by Logan 5  :
said by lrdvader:
These tracking services use spammer-style web bugs and HTML tricks to convince your client to rat you out, even if you've chosen not to send receipts. There's a big difference between requesting a receipt, and trying to sneak one out without your knowledge or consent.
Any chance of some proof to back this statememt up? I have not seen anything to indicate that this servce is malware or spyware. I'm not saying that maybe it isin't those things, but so far it has yet to be proven because the article has scant real information...
Can you please point out to me where in their Terms of Use for the product that it states that they use spyware or spam tricks?
Have someone send you an email through this service, retrieve it with an email client that allows you to view the /FULL/ source of the HTML message, and examine that message - you will see that it contains additional HTML tags that were NOT part of the original message.
If you check the FAQ section on the company's site, you'll find "Does it work with non-HTML mail clients" and the answer "in short, no."
A "webbug" is often a 1x1 pixel transparent GIF image. What happens, is that when the HTML document (email in this case) is actually viewed, the client software will retrieve that invisible image. When it retrieves it, the server that it retrieves from then knows that the particular bug being retrieved indicates that the message it was hidden in has been viewed, it will know the IP address of the viewer, what software was used to read the message, etc. (Try »showmyip.com and scroll down - this is all information that is available to a server when an HTML request is made)
In order to also know how long the message was viewed, a more complex approach is required, but the same basic idea holds - something non-visible is added to the HTML of the email message. (for the technically inclined, the only way to determine how long the email was open is to either have dynamic content, IE constantly updated as long as the message is open, or embed some script, IE using the onclose() trigger to reconnect to the server when the message view is closed)
j |
