Two of the three e-mails contain a small cookie that allows the sender to know the recipient’s response. What is this BBC In a survey conducted withApplication Messaging Hey. For sites Web And ad tracking, we talk about a “cookie” and for e-mail, it’s a ” Pixel spy »

Why this post? Because it a Pixels Is invisible to the recipient, and hides it in the message to monitor the use of Internet users. “Physically”, it takes the form of a pixel on a pixel image, often transparent so that it cannot be detected. This is a bit like a cookie operation, except that, at this time, there is no warning or warning, and the goal for the sender is to know the opening time of the message, from which type of device, and even from whom. Location since cookie collectionAddress ip.

A cookie that monitors your habits

This is clearly a clear personal data breech, and according to Hay co-founder David Hennimier Hanson, an average Internet user receives about 20 emails a day with a pixel tag. For 10% of users, this can increase to 50 messages per day. Their study is based on the nearly one million messages they receive per day on their company’s servers, and the perpetrators are often from merchant sites and marketing companies. the same Facebook Uses this system on its social network to target advertisements.

If we do not find this type of cookie in the email of a relative or colleague, it will be hidden in the email with the subject The gate On promotion or sale. As soon as the pixel appears in the message, like any link or image, the sender is notified because the pixel is stored on their server, and viewing the message uploads the imageComputer Of the recipient.

At the moment, there is no complaint against this type of practice, but on the other hand, it is possible to protect against it Refuse to display pictures in email. By default, Gmail blocks the display of images in considered emails. Spam, But it is possible to do this for its entire inbox. In the parameters, you have to access the “General” tab And check the box for confirmation before displaying the external image.

An option to stop spying

We find the same option Mail to ios But also in outlook Software Messaging Microsoft, And this is not a problem when you primarily receive emails with text. However, when images occur, it forces you to activate the display option, and therefore risks being “traced”.

This practice is reminiscent of what allows online couriers to receive emails to “read” in order to display content-based advertisements. Even though they were just bots, they had access to the content of the messages for advertising purposes. This time, a simple dot-shaped image can do almost the same.