Theciva // Email Tracking
How To Ignore Emails Without Getting Caught?
Yes, emails can be tracked.
It was 1:00 AM when an email notification brought my Netflix binge to a halt. Sent by one of my colleagues, it read: ‘I need project details ASAP.’
But isn’t this a really odd hour to ask for project details? He could have asked for it during those 5 hours I spent working just beside him.
I hadn’t guessed in the slightest that he’d be tracking emails when I choose to ignore him and pretend that I haven’t seen the mail — just like everyone else does.
Yes, emails can be tracked.
I apologized to him the next morning.
And all it took to make him reveal how he tracked my email was a promise that I won’t ignore him again.
But I can’t promise everybody the same. What if everyone starts monitoring emails for replies? This needs to be stopped.
How He Tracks My Emails?
He uses an application called MailTrack that puts a really really tiny 1×1 px transparent image in the outgoing emails, which is called Tracking Pixel. When I open the email, the image sends back the exact time to him notifying that I read his emails.
The tracking pixel also sends him my IP address, which stands for Internet Protocol Address. This 11-digit unique number is your identity on the internet. It has the capability to locate you on a globe.
This means anybody tracking my emails would get to know my location as well.
How Can I Stop Him?
I found two methods to prevent the basic functioning of a tracking pixel. See, Tracking Pixels are after all pixels or images only so a straight-forward option is to directly disable Auto-downloading of Images by your mail client.
But it has its share of problems (which I’ll talk about in a minute).
Another not-so-basic method is that you block tracking pixels specifically with a blocker.
#1 Prevent Auto-downloading of Images
When you open an email, the images in it are automatically downloaded. This means tracking pixels are also downloaded. So why not block the download of these pixels? Here’s how you do it in Gmail:
- Open Gmail.
- Click on the Settings (gear) icon on the top-right corner. This will take you to Settings
- In the ‘General’ tab, scroll down until you find ‘Images’.
- Select “Ask before displaying external images”
- Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on “Save Changes”
In case you use Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail, Microsoft Mail, or Android/iOS app of Gmail, refer this guide to do the same.
When you use this method, you accuse all images guilty of taking your privacy rather than just tracking pixels. So, when tracking pixels are sentenced to being blocked, all other images too are.
And emails look damn boring without images.
#2 Directly Block Tracking Pixels
In case you (too) don’t like an email without images, here’s another method to block tracking pixels. You can use Chrome/Firefox extensions like UglyMail or PixelBlock to block tracking pixels.
I’ll show you how you can put PixelBlock to work:
- Install PixelBlock for Chrome.
- Now when you open an email, there’s a red-coloured eye icon that tells you that there’s an embedded tracking pixel.
- It also blocks any tracking attempt from that pixel.
With both of these methods, anybody trying to track me would see no signs of me having read the email (by the tracking pixel) even if I have replied to it.
Can I Track Emails I Send The Way He Did?
I know I have hated email tracking like anything but it’s not so bad. I mean I have had the experience of being annoyed when someone doesn’t respond to emails.
So why not catch others ignoring emails from me?😏
