Consumer Advocate
August 18th, 2004
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Technology Advice You Can Trust
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Useful advice on how to protect yourself against scams, attacks on
your privacy, and spam.
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August 18th, 2004
Spam Slayer: Track That E-Mail
Senior Writer Tom Spring
I admit it, sometimes I lie and say "no" when annoying business
contacts ask "Did you receive my e-mail?" I consider my digression a
polite way of prioritizing a busy workday when I don't have the time
to respond. Sadly, my days of deception are coming to an end.
Rampell Software has taken some of the mystery out of e-mail with a
service called DidTheyReadIt:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/196703/21421686/515982/0/
The monthly subscription service allows you to track your electronic
missives. You're alerted when a message is viewed--and the recipient
doesn't know you're tracking the correspondence.
Besides exposing fibbers like me, DidTheyReadIt eliminates the worry
that our e-mail has been blocked by an overzealous spam filter or
mistaken as spam by the recipient and deleted. After all, e-mail
incorrectly identified as spam by junk mail filters can be even more
annoying than spam itself. For more on this topic, read "Spotting the
Good Guys":
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/196703/21421686/722300/0/
The DidTheyReadIt service costs $50 for a year's subscription, but you
can send ten messages for free as a trial.
The concept is not new. Similar services such as ReadNotify,
ReturnReceipt, and MSGTAG have been around for a while. These sites
offer "return receipt" services that differ in price, compatibility,
technology, and function. DidTheyReadIt is the newest offering in the
field.
Service Basics
I've been testing DidTheyReadIt for the past couple of weeks with a
complimentary account courtesy of Rampell Software. Even though I've
felt a bit like a creep for secretly tracking e-mail sent to friends
and colleagues, and I've experienced a few shortcomings in the system,
I've found DidTheyReadIt to be a powerful tool for verifying that
e-mail gets delivered.
Of course, on the receiving end, there are ways to reject return
receipts--at least the ones that are forthcoming about their request.
Microsoft Outlook provides that option; here's how to turn it on:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/196703/21421686/722301/0/
But DidTheyReadIt uses a clandestine method to track your messages.
You can associate DidTheyReadIt's service with any e-mail account that
you register with its Web site. Then you use the service in one of two
ways: downloading a program or adding code to e-mail addresses.
You can download a small software program called DidTheyReadIt
Background Tracker, which automatically tracks all e-mail sent while
you use your PC. You can easily change the e-mail address associated
with your DidTheyReadIt account, so you can track e-mail sent from
multiple e-mail accounts.
Or you could skip the software download and track e-mail by adding
".didtheyreadit.com" to the end of any e-mail address you mail to. For
example, you might address an e-mail message to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] it shows up in the recipient's
in-box as [EMAIL PROTECTED] with no hint that you're tracking the e-mail.
As soon as the recipient opens your message, you're notified via
e-mail.
Your notification includes the time your e-mail was opened, how long
it was open on the recipient's machine, how many times the e-mail was
viewed, the recipient's current Internet protocol address, and roughly
where the recipient is geographically located.
You can also log onto DidTheyReadIt's Web-based management site and
view tracking information.
How It Tracks E-Mail
E-mail programs like Eudora, Outlook, Outlook Express, and Netscape
allow you to request a return receipt from the recipient. Programs do
this by simply adding code to your e-mail that pops up a message on
the recipient's end asking them whether they want to send a message
indicating the e-mail was opened.
DidTheyReadIt embeds a Web bug, traditionally used by e-mail
marketers, into outbound messages. Web bugs are imperceptible image
files that, when activated with the opening of the e-mail message in
which they reside, request information from a server to verify an
e-mail message is opened and for how long. People receiving e-mail
messages that use DidTheyReadIt have no idea the e-mail is being
tracked.
DidTheyReadIt goes a step further than standard e-mail return
receipts. Its Web bugs can also detect the IP address unique to the
e-mail recipient's computer, allowing DidTheyReadIt to make an
educated guess as to where the e-mail recipient is located.
In my informal tests, DidTheyReadIt accurately guessed my
correspondents' locations and how long e-mail messages were viewed.
Bugs and Compatibility
Although the service worked most of the time, I encountered some
glaring problems.
If you send e-mail to someone whose e-mail client doesn't support
HTML-formatted messages, you'll never know if your e-mail made it.
DidTheyReadIt cannot display a Web bug in e-mail clients configured to
display text only (no graphics), rendering Web bugs useless and making
tracking via Web bugs impossible.
But the biggest problem I experienced with DidTheyReadIt software was
compatibility. In multiple tests of the service, messages sent from
Lotus Notes to recipients who use AOL 9.0 Optimized, Mozilla
Thunderbird, and Netscape 7.1 e-mail clients showed up blank. The
e-mail arrived, but message bodies were missing. Additionally,
DidTheyReadIt never confirmed the messages were opened.
Rampell Software says that DidTheyReadIt customers have sent
100,000-plus messages, and I was the only one who had that experience.
CEO Alex Rampell acknowledges the service isn't foolproof.
"DidTheyReadIt works 98 percent of the time," Rampell says.
Another compatibility issue is with corporate e-mail routed through a
company's servers. Because the DidTheyReadIt Background Tracker
supports only SMTP-based e-mail clients, you need to add
".didtheyreadit.com" to the end of any e-mail address you suspect may
not use an SMTP account.
These compatibility concerns might be a good reason to do your own
thorough tests before you fork over $50 for a year's subscription to
DidTheyReadIt. With a 2 percent margin of error, unfortunately this
service will not eliminate e-mail anxiety completely.
Thoughts on Snooping
DidTheyReadIt has already attracted complaints that the service
violates the privacy of Internet users because it is very hard to
detect. Rampell acknowledges these concerns, and the CEO says his
company's intentions are honorable. He maintains that privacy issues
are outweighed by positive uses, such as a manager, job-seeker, or
parent who appreciates that DidTheyReadIt ensures their e-mail gets
read even if the recipient chooses not to reply.
So the next time your boss asks you if you read their e-mail, keep in
mind that they may already know the answer.
* Q&A *
Q. I receive 5000 spam e-mails per day. I get so much spam because I
own a domain. It's just a personal domain for fun, but all e-mail
directed to my domain comes to me. Spammers are mass e-mailing to my
domain and I get about 50 copies of each spam e-mail.
I can't keep up with deleting the spam and my server fills up. I'm
forced to pay storage over-usage charges because the spam pushes me
over my limit with my service provider.
What can I do about this problem now other than change my e-mail
address and dump my domain?
--Elisabeth
A. First, I would find a hosting service with a better spam filter so
the massive volumes of crud you're getting gets blocked before it
makes it into your account. Second, it's likely when you set up your
domain you had any e-mail sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
forwarded to you. You need to configure your hosting service to
recognize only one or two e-mail addresses.
If too much spam is collecting on your server and it's costing you
money in "over-use charges," I suggest you configure your computer's
e-mail software to automatically download messages from your server
every half hour. Make sure your e-mail client is configured not to
save messages on your server.
And if you use Outlook, there's one last thing you can do: Outlook
lets you automatically archive e-mail in a designated folder. If you
do this, it should help prevent Outlook from freezing up under the
weight of too many messages. You can also configure Outlook to
automatically delete archived items at daily, weekly, or monthly
intervals.
For a roundup of spam-fighting tools, read "Spam-Proof Your In-Box":
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/196703/21421686/364577/0/
* Tip of the Month *
Are You Spamming? Watch what you write in e-mail, or your message
might be mistaken for spam and blocked. Avoid using excessive
profanity and words typically found in junk e-mail. For example, too
many instances of the words "free" or "mortgage" and the phrase
"one-time offer" might trigger a spam filter to block your message.
Have a question or comment? Write to Tom Spring:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Read Tom Spring's regularly published "Spam Slayer" columns:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/196703/21421686/364428/0/
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Editors' Picks
Free Utilities: Lean and Mean Office Apps
For those of us who don't use 90% of the features in Microsoft Office,
here are some lean and mean alternatives.
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PureText v2.0
Strip unwanted code and formatting from text you're
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ATNotes v9.41
Create Post-it style reminders on your desktop.
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NoteTab Light v4.95
Replace your plain old NotePad with this feature-laden alternative.
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KeyNote v1.6.5
Free personal information manager for notes, to-do items, contacts,
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OpenOffice.org v1.1.1
OpenOffice.org apps include a word processor, a spreadsheet, a
database, and drawing and presentation programs.
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AceMoney Lite
Track your spending habits, manage budgets, and track the performance
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For a full list of this week's Editors' Picks, go to:
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* First PCI Express Graphics Cards Arrive
Cards based on the new bus perform well, but early tests offer no
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