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And except gmail's web interface, which is one of the biggest email clients these days.

by SAI_Peregrinus 6y ago

llacb47 6y ago
Gmail's web interface does load images by default.
- Joe8Bit 6y ago
  Technically it loads all images through a Google proxy[0] which in theory prevents third parties from using images for tracking. The third parties only get a 'hit' when Google pulls the image into their cache, which is not when you open the mail. Google can still track you, but if you really care about that then you're probably not using Gmail anyway. [0]: https://gmail.googleblog.com/2013/12/images-now-showing.html https://gmail.googleblog.com/2013/12/images-now-showing.html
- readams 6y ago
  Gmail won't load remote images when you open the mail. It will load images from Google servers that have been cached.
  - eli 6y ago
    it doesn't pre-cache them, Google requests them in real-time when you view them
- asiachick 6y ago
  It does not load them from 3rd parties. It cached them and loads them from Google's servers. Open your network tab and see https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/12/gmail-blows-up-e-mail-marketing-by-caching-all-images-on-google-servers/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/12/gmail...
  - eli 6y ago
    This protects your IP address and user agent string from being read by the sender, but otherwise doesn't change anything
fmorel 6y ago
Gmail made changes years ago to proxy images to prevent leaking info like this. https://gmail.googleblog.com/2013/12/images-now-showing.html https://gmail.googleblog.com/2013/12/images-now-showing.html
- keyrat 6y ago
  This helps in that you don't connect directly to the image so it doesn't leak your IP and other info that would be available from the connection. Marketing emails still send unique URLs for each recipient so they can associate your email address with opening any images and links. Google's proxy doesn't remedy this.
  - m12k 6y ago
    Won't the image proxy make it look like all emails to Gmail addresses are always opened, essentially making the tracking useless?
    - rav 6y ago
      As far as I know, Gmail doesn't load the images until the first time the user opens the message, so it unfortunately doesn't make the tracking as useless as you could hope.

And except gmail's web interface, which is one of the biggest email clients these days.

llacb47 6y ago

Gmail's web interface does load images by default.

Joe8Bit 6y ago
Technically it loads all images through a Google proxy[0] which in theory prevents third parties from using images for tracking. The third parties only get a 'hit' when Google pulls the image into their cache, which is not when you open the mail. Google can still track you, but if you really care about that then you're probably not using Gmail anyway. [0]: https://gmail.googleblog.com/2013/12/images-now-showing.html https://gmail.googleblog.com/2013/12/images-now-showing.html
readams 6y ago
Gmail won't load remote images when you open the mail. It will load images from Google servers that have been cached.
- eli 6y ago
  it doesn't pre-cache them, Google requests them in real-time when you view them
asiachick 6y ago
It does not load them from 3rd parties. It cached them and loads them from Google's servers. Open your network tab and see https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/12/gmail-blows-up-e-mail-marketing-by-caching-all-images-on-google-servers/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/12/gmail...
- eli 6y ago
  This protects your IP address and user agent string from being read by the sender, but otherwise doesn't change anything

fmorel 6y ago

Gmail made changes years ago to proxy images to prevent leaking info like this. https://gmail.googleblog.com/2013/12/images-now-showing.html https://gmail.googleblog.com/2013/12/images-now-showing.html

keyrat 6y ago
This helps in that you don't connect directly to the image so it doesn't leak your IP and other info that would be available from the connection. Marketing emails still send unique URLs for each recipient so they can associate your email address with opening any images and links. Google's proxy doesn't remedy this.
- m12k 6y ago
  Won't the image proxy make it look like all emails to Gmail addresses are always opened, essentially making the tracking useless?
  - rav 6y ago
    As far as I know, Gmail doesn't load the images until the first time the user opens the message, so it unfortunately doesn't make the tracking as useless as you could hope.