5 ms·

Unless I'm misunderstanding how this new feature is implemented, tracking pixels will still work, but the data that can be gleaned from them will be more generi

Unless I'm misunderstanding how this new feature is implemented, tracking pixels will still work, but the data that can be gleaned from them will be more generic (the IP address will belong to a proxy). Senders that are using these pixels to measure engagement (as opposed to building user profiles) shouldn't have much to worry about.

iancarroll 5y ago
"Mail Privacy Protection works by hiding your IP address and loading remote content privately in the background, even when you don't open the message."
- taylorfinley 5y ago
  Does this give Apple an excuse to send the content of received emails to their servers, for the background proxy loading process? "Even when you don't open the message" is very creepy to me. I'm suspicious of any company that wants to read my emails to 'protect' my privacy.
  - symfoniq 5y ago
    Not necessarily. Tracking pixels are implemented using images (usually transparent ones), so all Apple Mail needs to do is send the image URLs to the proxies, not the entire contents of the email. What they're actually doing remains to be seen.
  - crooked-v 5y ago
    The simplest implementation here would probably be something where the server pulls a copy of images and then bundles them into an inline blob in the IMAP email storage. They're "reading your emails" for functionality like spam filtering anyway. This seems like it would work on basically the same level as that kind of stuff.
    - warkdarrior 5y ago
      > They're "reading your emails" for functionality like spam filtering anyway. This seems like it would work on basically the same level as that kind of stuff. This is how Gmail started as well, and now Gmail is a big source of profiling info for Google advertising.
    - lxgr 5y ago
      > They're "reading your emails" for functionality like spam filtering anyway. Except for iCloud addresses, I'm pretty sure that that's not true for Apple Mail.
    - snowwrestler 5y ago
      For most people using iPhones, Apple is not providing the server. On most iPhones the Mail app is hooked up to Gmail, company email, etc. So it will be interesting to see how Apple inserts itself into that setup to implement the image proxy.
  - snowwrestler 5y ago
    This is a great question. A lot of orgs issue iPhones and hook them up to “on-prem” corporate email servers that they own and operate. They would NOT be happy to find out that all their email copies are suddenly being copied to Apple.

iancarroll 5y ago

"Mail Privacy Protection works by hiding your IP address and loading remote content privately in the background, even when you don't open the message."

taylorfinley 5y ago
Does this give Apple an excuse to send the content of received emails to their servers, for the background proxy loading process? "Even when you don't open the message" is very creepy to me. I'm suspicious of any company that wants to read my emails to 'protect' my privacy.
- symfoniq 5y ago
  Not necessarily. Tracking pixels are implemented using images (usually transparent ones), so all Apple Mail needs to do is send the image URLs to the proxies, not the entire contents of the email. What they're actually doing remains to be seen.
- crooked-v 5y ago
  The simplest implementation here would probably be something where the server pulls a copy of images and then bundles them into an inline blob in the IMAP email storage. They're "reading your emails" for functionality like spam filtering anyway. This seems like it would work on basically the same level as that kind of stuff.
  - warkdarrior 5y ago
    > They're "reading your emails" for functionality like spam filtering anyway. This seems like it would work on basically the same level as that kind of stuff. This is how Gmail started as well, and now Gmail is a big source of profiling info for Google advertising.
  - lxgr 5y ago
    > They're "reading your emails" for functionality like spam filtering anyway. Except for iCloud addresses, I'm pretty sure that that's not true for Apple Mail.
  - snowwrestler 5y ago
    For most people using iPhones, Apple is not providing the server. On most iPhones the Mail app is hooked up to Gmail, company email, etc. So it will be interesting to see how Apple inserts itself into that setup to implement the image proxy.
- snowwrestler 5y ago
  This is a great question. A lot of orgs issue iPhones and hook them up to “on-prem” corporate email servers that they own and operate. They would NOT be happy to find out that all their email copies are suddenly being copied to Apple.