" web bug Archives - LuxSci

Posts Tagged ‘web bug’

Protecting Yourself from Email Web Beacons

Tuesday, July 7th, 2020

Web Beacons (a.k.a Tracking Pixels) are images in HTML-formatted email messages that, when viewed, tell the sender of the message that you read it.  This mechanism of obtaining essentially covert confirmation that (a) your email address is valid, (b) the email got past your filters, and (c) you actually read the message, is pervasively used by Spammers to identify what addresses are reading their messages.  It is also used by email marketers to hep them measure the success of their email campaigns.

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Has Your Email Been Read? Read Receipts and Web Bugs

Wednesday, July 1st, 2020

 

Customers often ask how they can know if a specific recipient has read a message. Typically, this is done by requesting a “Read Receipt” when sending the message. However, read receipts are unreliable. Spammers use techniques such as HTML “web bug” tracking to see if you have read an email message and thus if your email address is valid and ripe for more spamming; this is also unreliable. LuxSci’s SecureLine Escrow service includes a 100% reliable Read Receipt function that can be used when it is essential to know if someone has read a message. It also allows for message retraction (removing further access to an email message).

This article explains how to determine if a message is read, shows how each method works and discusses the pros and cons.

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Email Delivery: How do you know if an email was received?

Monday, July 17th, 2017

You just sent an important business communication via email and assume all is well, but what if that email was not received?

How do you know if an email was received? There could be significant delays or consequences if the message was not delivered. What can you do to put your mind at ease?

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How do you know if someone has read your email message?

Friday, July 26th, 2013

Has your recipient read the email message that you sent to them?

Has anyone else read the email messages you sent or saved in your online email folders?

We are often asked how customers can verify if an email that has been sent has actually been read or if they can detect if messages have been covertly read (e.g., by the NSA). The quick answer is that:

  1. You generally can never know unless you plan on it ahead of time or use a system that includes read tracking as a feature.
  2. Concerning your ISP or the government reading emails, you cannot ever know. All you can do is implement encryption mechanisms to prevent them from reading the messages altogether.

In this article, we will discuss what measures you can take and how effective they are for determining if an email message has been read. The simplest and most generally available methods are the least reliable.

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