On Tue, 2 Oct 2001 15:06:34 -0400 Jon Carnes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I hate to say this, as I totally despise spam but... to get a > truly accurate count of folks who really open or at least preview > the message, send the message as html and include a link to a tiny > gif on one of your web servers. Place the gif somewhere > unobtrusive in the message, like at the very end. This is called a "web bug" and is a standard technique of both SPAMmers and advertising companies ala DoubleClick, and is one of the primary reasons I refuse to let HTML on any of my lists (as I promise my members privacy). > The text of the message will always show up and as folks read the > message, their machines will automatically download the gif. > Actually, just previewing it will cause the gif to be downloaded. Its also particularly easily defeated. Just configure your MUA to use a non-existent proxy for all HTML fetches. In my case I point it to localhost on a port which has nothing listening on it. The result is that the GET request is made to a non-existent proxy, which never replies, and so the image is not retrieved. Easy, low impact, workable. This way I get to read the mail but don't have to worry about the unannounced and unwelcome privacy invasions of web bugs. -- J C Lawrence ---------(*) Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas. [EMAIL PROTECTED] He lived as a devil, eh? http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/ Evil is a name of a foeman, as I live. ------------------------------------------------------ Mailman-Users maillist - [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/mailman-users
