June 13, 2004

Monkeying about with mail

From Newsweek (scroll down to Technology) Rampell Software's didtheyreadit.com service. They claim to track your email, letting you know when it was opened it, and even how long the mail was open for. Here's how it works. They claim a 98% success rate with their service. They use embedded image includes to implement their tracking. Which makes it possible to disable/get around - except for those who are limited to web based email, they are shitoutofluck. An article from ZDNet with more info than I have space for here. Question - Given the current penetration of email in everyday life, is foolproof email receipting desirable/inevitable?

posted by semaphore 20 years ago
  • Wouldn't work with me. I use Mailsmith for my email, and it's text-only. I don't want fancy-schmancy HTML email, as it only causes problems, and if most people try to use fonts or graphics in their email, chances are better than even that it's going to look really ugly. Plus it keeps the spammers from knowing I've gotten their emails.
  • I would like to know if someone has read my mail, but, usually only when a response is a long time in coming. Generally, I don't mind not knowing. I don't think it's evitable because it's easy to get email in a text only format. If there's some mechanim other than an embedded image that works in text messages, then yeah, it would become ubiquitous. However, what I'd really like to know is if my email has been forwarded. Imagine being really frank about your personal life in an email and having it end up in--I don't know--Kevin Bacon's inbox.
  • However, what I'd really like to know is if my email has been forwarded. Don't worry, that will become abundantly clear when it gets posted here on MoFi.
  • Aside from wanting to know if your ex(es) have opened your witty "haha"/"ohgodpleasetakemeback" messages, I can't think of any reason for all this craziness! That's a good point about the forwarding, Danny Kay. I know, because I've definitely been a girlish bitch and forwarded gossip. Straight to Homeland Security, that is.
  • Imagine being really frank about your personal life in an email and having it end up in Kevin Bacon's inbox. That's how I got lumbered with this damn restraining order.
  • Ditto Sandspider. Text-only is the way to go. Even with proof of delivery, you can't tell if the recipient read or understood the message. Tracking methods of any sort seem more bothersome than useful, and open one more door for exploits.
  • Wouldn't work with me: I don't view HTML email, so I don't download any images. Even web-based mail. I must be part of the 2% they have no "success" with. (Real success is getting away with claiming that the email never arrived.)
  • semaphore, you could log into your web based email with a text based browser? Or turn of the loading of images...would that work?
  • Mutt. Kmail by default won't render HTML unless you click on the "render in HTML" link (actually, it's the "by clicking here" link).
  • flashboy, I hear ya. You innocently mention that you've followed a certain someone around the town one day and they get all bent out of shape. Ooops, back to the topic. I know that some web-based email companies give you that option, kuatto, but I couldn't find an option for that in Gmail. Is it default text? It's looks like that but I not sure.
  • Lots of problems with this service, starting with the fact that it would be an excellent way for a spammmer to gather primo email addresses. Not to mention that a spammer could abuse it, since it's basically a mail forwarder.
  • I couldn't find an option for that in Gmail Hmm. Nor me. This is the first downside to Gmail I have found, and it's a biggie. I'm sticking to Yahoo! for now.