Users often wonder how ads are displayed so accurately on the Internet. I just searched for something on Google or looked at an offer in the mail, and already all the banners are full of relevant goods or services. But not everyone knows that in addition to search queries, many corporations, marketing agencies or just third-party companies track your activity via e-mail. This is done using special tracker-pixels that are embedded in emails.
The number of trackers in e-mail newsletters is sometimes uncountable.
ПОДПИСЫВАЙСЯ НА НАШ КАНАЛ В ЯНДЕКС.ДЗЕНЕ И ЧИТАЙ ЭКСКЛЮЗИВНЫЕ СТАТЬИ БЕСПЛАТНО
Moreover, the use of such technology exclusively for advertising purposes is the most harmless. Tracker pixels can also collect more important information than what you decide to order as a gift to your relatives. Let’s see how it works email trackinghow safe it is and how to turn it off.
Email – Tracking
Google tries to protect its users, but it doesn’t always work.
As I said above, email tracking is done using tracker-pixels. They are small images in GIF or PNG format, the size, as the name implies, is one pixel. They are added to an email, when you open it and download all the images, the code inside the tracker collects all the information about when the email was opened, where and from which device. In some cases, such trackers received access to cookieswhich poses a much greater threat.
In such a situation, information is transmitted to the server to the sender about which sites the owner of the box visits and, possibly, what information he enters there. The date and time of opening is not particularly dangerous. This is, in fact, a banal delivery and read report, which most of us are familiar with when working with corporate mailboxes. But site data is already quite serious information that can be used for illegal purposes.
ПОДПИШИСЬ НА НАШ ЧАТИК В ТЕЛЕГРАМЕ. ТАМ СОБРАЛИСЬ ТОЛЬКО ИЗБРАННЫЕ ЧИТАТЕЛИ
The saddest thing is that such images cannot be seen with the eyes, even if you know where to look for them. They are embedded both in the headers and in the body of the letter. many owners mail services try to recognize and block such trackers on their own. For example, Google runs all images through its own servers to hide the user’s location and when the email was read. But, unfortunately, it is impossible to block everything.
Initially pixel trackers embedded in links, but recently users have stopped mindlessly moving to pages they don’t know. So now they are limited to pictures. Since such programs are most often images, they can be dealt with quite effectively. It’s enough to simply disable media auto-download and run it each time only for those senders you know.
Of course, no one guarantees that even an online store you have known for a long time will not trade with such programs. But it will be possible to reduce the amount of information transmitted to the outside.
How to turn off email tracking
If you are using another mail service, then follow the same steps.
Consider disabling automatic image loading using the example of one of the world’s most popular email service – Gmail. This can be done in several ways. It all depends on what device you have. The first and easiest way is through web version of Gmail:
- Go to mail.google.com.
- In the upper right corner, click on the gear to go to the settings.
- Select All Settings.
- In the “General” section, scroll down a little to “Pictures”.
- Check the “Ask if I want to show images” box.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the “Save Changes” button.
Images will only be uploaded with your consent.
Don’t forget to save your changes.
Keep in mind that without saving the settings will not be applied and everything will work as before. Together with disabling automatic image loading dynamic content in emails will also be disabled. It includes various animations. They will only be downloaded after you choose to download all the images in a particular email.
ПОДПИСЫВАЙСЯ НА ТЕЛЕГРАМ-КАНАЛ СУНДУК АЛИБАБЫ. ТАМ КАЖДЫЙ ДЕНЬ ВЫХОДЯТ ПОДБОРКИ САМЫХ ЛУЧШИХ ТОВАРОВ С АЛИЭКСПРЕСС
Similar settings can also be made via mobile appif it’s more convenient for you. For this you need:
- Open the Gmail app.
- Click on the three bars in the upper left corner.
- In the list that appears, scroll to the very bottom and select “Settings”.
- Click on your account.
- Go to the “Images” section.
- Select “Ask if I want to show images (will disable dynamic content)”.
- When you receive an email with the pictures you want to download, just click “Show Pictures”.
Disabling automatic downloads is much more convenient through the application.
The settings are hidden at the very bottom of the list.
The settings almost completely repeat the web version.
Dynamic content is disabled along with images.
If you trust the sender, feel free to upload pictures.
But it is also possible that you do not use the native gmail appand you have enough standard “Mail” to which you added google account. In such a situation, you can disable content loading there as well. This will require:
- Open settings.
- Go to the “Mail” section.
- Select “Privacy Protection”.
- Turn on “Block all content from remote sources”.
Apple also cares about user privacy and provides its own settings.
This item works similar to the settings in Gmail.
In this case, you will also have to upload images using an additional click on the button. Thanks to these actions, you will protect yourself a little from intrusion into your email and try to avoid the appearance of annoying contextual advertising. Unfortunately, it is impossible to completely exclude such things, but even in this form it is already not bad.
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