4 ms·

Displaying Web Bugs: Gmail vs. Apple Mail

3 points by chmars 14y ago

The Gmail option 'Ask before displaying external content' does not work as expected, i.e. external content such as web bugs gets displayed anyway. The linked screenshot shows an example: http://oi48.tinypic.com/2uqoroj.jpg I used Reeder to mail myself a New York Times article. I usually use Mailplane to access Gmail and Mailplane enjoys free web access. After an update of my personal firewall Little Snitch, however, I had to reassign access rights and Little Snitch showed a request to nytimes.com. That is what I call 'displaying external content WITHOUT asking' … The issue is reproducible in Mailplane as well as in Gmail in common browsers such as Chrome, Firefox and Safari. Apple Mail, by the way, does not try to load the same external content: http://oi47.tinypic.com/6ieams.jpg

ColinWright 14y ago
Clickables: http://oi48.tinypic.com/2uqoroj.jpg http://oi48.tinypic.com/2uqoroj.jpg http://oi47.tinypic.com/6ieams.jpg http://oi47.tinypic.com/6ieams.jpg
- chmars 14y ago
  Thanks! How can I make URLs clickable in new postings? In comments, URLs seems to become clickable automatically.
  - ColinWright 14y ago
    From http://ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html http://ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html ... How do I make a link in a question? You can't. (This is to prevent people from using this method as a way of submitting a link, but with their comments in a privileged position at the top of the page. If you want to submit a link with comments, just submit it, then add a regular comment.)
    - chmars 14y ago
      Thanks again, I appreciate your help! :)
nodata 14y ago
I can't reproduce this using https://emailprivacytester.com/ https://emailprivacytester.com/
- chmars 14y ago
  I cannot either but the requests are there. https://emailprivacytester.com/ https://emailprivacytester.com/ might test only for known web bugs and not for simple requests.
  - mike-cardwell 14y ago
    I am the author. Yes, there are going to be things it doesn't catch. I've created tests for as many different leaks that I could think of. Please send over the full source of one of these emails so I can figure out what is causing the leak and add another test. [edit] I imagine this is a problem in Mailplane rather than GMail. It is the client making the request it shouldn't be. Perhaps it's some sort of pre-fetch. The emailprivacytester.com app should still notify users of this leak though.
    - chmars 14y ago
      The problem is not limited to Mailplane and is reproducible with every available browser access to Gmail (Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Safari) on several Macs. I am wondering if this issue is limited to our Mac setup or if other users are affected as well. Most users would probably never notice since even if you use a personal firewall, you usually grant your browser full Internet access on the relevant ports.

3 points by chmars 14y ago

ColinWright 14y ago

Clickables: http://oi48.tinypic.com/2uqoroj.jpg http://oi48.tinypic.com/2uqoroj.jpg http://oi47.tinypic.com/6ieams.jpg http://oi47.tinypic.com/6ieams.jpg

chmars 14y ago
Thanks! How can I make URLs clickable in new postings? In comments, URLs seems to become clickable automatically.
- ColinWright 14y ago
  From http://ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html http://ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html ... How do I make a link in a question? You can't. (This is to prevent people from using this method as a way of submitting a link, but with their comments in a privileged position at the top of the page. If you want to submit a link with comments, just submit it, then add a regular comment.)
  - chmars 14y ago
    Thanks again, I appreciate your help! :)

nodata 14y ago

I can't reproduce this using https://emailprivacytester.com/ https://emailprivacytester.com/

chmars 14y ago
I cannot either but the requests are there. https://emailprivacytester.com/ https://emailprivacytester.com/ might test only for known web bugs and not for simple requests.
- mike-cardwell 14y ago
  I am the author. Yes, there are going to be things it doesn't catch. I've created tests for as many different leaks that I could think of. Please send over the full source of one of these emails so I can figure out what is causing the leak and add another test. [edit] I imagine this is a problem in Mailplane rather than GMail. It is the client making the request it shouldn't be. Perhaps it's some sort of pre-fetch. The emailprivacytester.com app should still notify users of this leak though.
  - chmars 14y ago
    The problem is not limited to Mailplane and is reproducible with every available browser access to Gmail (Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Safari) on several Macs. I am wondering if this issue is limited to our Mac setup or if other users are affected as well. Most users would probably never notice since even if you use a personal firewall, you usually grant your browser full Internet access on the relevant ports.