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Tell HN: Use Your Hosts File to Blackhole EMail Trackers
Bananatag, Streak and Yesware each add web bugs - invisible one-pixel images - to HTML eMail so that the sender will know when you've opened their eMail. Bananatag also tracks clicks on links by using a redirect.
The following entries in your /etc/hosts file should put a lid on this gross privacy violation. Note that /etc/hosts is not accessible on iOS; I expect it can be on jailbroken phones but I don't really know. Some Android devices can be unlocked with a straightforward tool that comes with the Android source code.
Really it would be best to block these domains at your router, or with a DNS server, but that won't really work if, as I, you hang out at WiFi spots frequently.
Add the following to your existing /etc/hosts file - don't just replace it or your box won't work anymore:
# = B =
# Bananatag eMail Tracking
#
# Bananatag uses both web bugs as well as tracking redirects for links
127.0.0.1 bl-1.com
127.0.0.1 s.bl-1.com
# = S =
# Streak eMail Tracking
127.0.0.1 streak.com
127.0.0.1 www.streak.com
# = Y =
# Yesware eMail Tracking
127.0.0.1 yesware.com
127.0.0.1 app.yesware.com
127.0.0.1 www.yesware.com
Note that DNS is not an API, it is a network protocol. While the convention is for name lookups to consult the hosts file, there is no particular requirement to actually do so.
- jlgaddis 12y agoPerhaps it's just because I'm old but I still prefer reading my e-mail using mutt in a terminal. Even when I use a graphical mail client (Thunderbird) I still read all mail in plain text. Running Unbound (or something similar) locally would also work too (using, e.g., the "empty" zone) in your case (moving between networks often).
- MichaelCrawford 12y agoClearly plain-text mail clients will prevent this kind of problem. I would use one - such as mutt - were it not for the fact that many of the people I do business with insist on formatted mail, and have no insight whatsoever into the reasons why plain-text email is to be preferred.
- jlgaddis 12y agoUnderstood (I likewise correspond with folks who will occasionally send an e-mail with something like "changes below in red", forcing me to log into my web mail and view the message there). Plain-text mail 100% of the time certainly isn't/doesn't work for everyone.
- ams6110 12y agoYou can block all sorts of known ad and malware sites this way. I use a hosts file from a windows-oriented site (search for "MVPS hosts file") but it works on linux/Mac OS/BSDs just as well. There are others floating around if you prefer another source.
- MichaelCrawford 12y agoI'm OK with advertising, but not with tracking. The problem for me is that most advertising is served from a host other than that of the publisher, so tracking can be done by the ad server. That is, say HN were to publish AdSense. HN's webmaster would add a small snippet of Javascript, that fetches the ad itself from Google's server. That would enable Google to track me. I am, for the most part, completely cool with ads that are served from the same IP address as the web page I'm looking at.
- a3n 12y agoLet's say that became a reality, that most ads were served from the site of interest. Wouldn't the site's back end just send data about the client viewing an ad back to the ad vendor? I would think it would be part of their contract. I also have no problem with ads per se, but they aren't just ads anymore, ...