Email Tracking

Computer Help and Discussions The Lounge
1

I have used Email tracking for a very long time. MSGTAG I have used on OE for over 10 years now and it works perfectly, telling me if my mails have been opened.

In the past two years I have also installed Bananatag and Signals by Hubspot as extensions with Chrome on my Gmail and Outlook.com Email accounts. they also work great.

There are of course a number of systems reasons why these tracking systems fail, but it is due to the recipients personally customized account and not the fault of the tracking programs. Failure to track does not occur very often, even to official sources like Government, military or police etc.

Personally I would never be without them. To know that my mail has been opened is of enormous satisfaction, otherwise you are left in limbo whether the mail even got through, or the recipient is conveniently ignoring it. I love trackers !

Snooping ? Intrusion of privacy ? Utter Nonsense ! It is perfectly legitimate and logical to use modern technology to signal that a message has been received.

Any comments /

2

Gmail; and soon Outlook.com, proxy external content in emails making tracking methods completely useless.

3

Gmail; and soon Outlook.com, proxy external content in emails making tracking methods completely useless.

Gmail has operated with a proxy for ages. Does not stop tracking at all, but it does stop extracting the recipients PC data, IP, location, server, system etc.

Proxy servers, in fact any server is nothing whatsoever to do with tracking technology. The trackers use a hidden pixel in the mail itself, so that when the mail is opened, the pixel activates a signal to the tracker who then transmits a notification to the sender that their mail has been opened. Forget proxy`s or servers, they are irrelevant.

I am perfectly satisfied with knowing that my mail has been read, personal details and location etc. which some trackers provide are simply curiosity parameters and of no real interest. Location is 99.99% known in any case for the mails I send.

I tracked a person who had Gmail in the US with Signals by Hubspot.. I got the signal that they had read my mail with no problems. I got San Antonio Texas as their location, which was correct. Gmail`s proxy never stopped that tracking one iota. I have no idea how Signals got the Gmail users location, but they did. Perhaps it is linked to the Email address, I really do not know.

But if you try to find a Gmail users IP with any tracking system or IP Finder, the IP you get will be Google`s proxy IP and hence Google`s location etc., NOT the recipients.

4

I've never bothered with trackers or even Read Receipts.

Like snail mail, an email is legally deemed to be received once it's been sent.

They can't say they never got it if you have proof you sent it.

No email is undelivered, if it can't be sent it is returned to sender.

5

I've never bothered with trackers or even Read Receipts.

Like snail mail, an email is legally deemed to to received once it's been sent.

They can't say they never got it if you have proof you sent it.

No email is undelivered, if it can't be sent it is returned to sender.

I disagree

I have sent email requests to my Doctor for repeat prescriptions,

and he never received them because of I.T. problems in the N.H.S. which failed to place them in the doctor's in-box.

So far as the Internet was concerned - the message had been delivered,

and I never knew of the failure

Now I email my local pharmacy, and that one action causes them to to do many things :-

1.

Forward my request direct to the doctors office BY FAX,

because the Pharmacy FAX machine gets a response back from the doctors FAX as soon as the message is printed, and

A FAX RECEIPT IS LEGAL PROOF OF DELIVERY.

2.

They then email to say that it has happened (as I also request because they are part of a chain and subject to the same vagaries of remote I.T. as the N.H.S.)

and if I do not get their response within a couple of hours I try again or phone them.

3.

When the doctor has signed the prescription they then collect his authorization and deliver my needs to my door

( The internet would make me fat and lazy if I let it :) )

Incidentally, a FAX message is authenticated by the telephone that sent it.

A solicitor dealing with a will required my wife's "signed instruction" to release funds,

needing a 200 mile journey to his office, or a snail mail postal letter, or a FAX

but email lacked authentication and could not be accepted.

The hidden pixel solution used by KAS causes the entire email top be rejected by some spam filters,

and I think that for all their failings, the N.H.S would have rejected ALL my emails if they had included tracking pixels.

I would like to think that my security system would prevent the activation of a pixel from launching some action,

How is that different from visiting an infected website that uses hidden pixels to signal to Windows that the user consented to an installation ?

6

Of course there are ways of preventing a "read" message being sent by a tracking device and YES some systems plonk anything with an image into SPAM or have PLAIN TEXT instead of HTML. Who cares ? You can`t win `em all. But the tracking programs win most of `em. We are not dealing with hyper intelligent geeks, devoted to thwarting everything in sight, we are dealing with ordinary email clients, your John and Jane Doe`s or this world.

Without a tracker you are in mindless limbo. Your entire email activity is a big unknown, an information black out. You send out these mails into a black hole, hoping that the recipients have received them and NEVER knowing if they have read them. What sort of communication policy or personal behavior is that ?

To install a tracking program, costs nothing and is no trouble - most are freebies and only take seconds to install - and 99.9% of the time you get a message that your email has been read. How can that be wrong ? Well, in terms of reality, peace of mind and sheer common sense - it simply cannot be wrong. In fact it is a 100% logical solution to any sensibly minded person.

7

Kas, you simply got a notification that Gmail had processed your email - not that the user has opened it. The "single pixel" method does not work, as of December 2013.

Read here https://wordtothewise.com/2013/12/gmail-deploys-image-proxy-servers/

8

Kas, you simply got a notification that Gmail had processed your email - not that the user has opened it. The "single pixel" method does not work, as of December 2013.

Read here https://wordtothewise.com/2013/12/gmail-deploys-image-proxy-servers/

We must agree to disagree on that. The article floats between conjecture and nonsense. It is now June 2014 and December 2013 is a long way away. I have today sent my Gmail a test message from OE, opened it on Gmail and immediately received a notification on my OE that the recipient has read it.

Either Google was having a coffee break or the link you gave is rubbish. My hidden pixel got under the wire eh?

It is the FIRST opening that matters, not any subsequent openings. Google does not have a clue about any hidden pixels until the recipient opens the mail and then it is too late. Google can download the dreaded pixel to their spaghetti junction of proxies etc. and prevent notifications on subsequent openings, but what use is that ? The horse has bolted.

San Antonio did not appear out of Google`s network of gobble-de-gook. It appeared because the recipient had opened the mail. It was totally correct, because I contacted the recipient almost immediately and they confirmed their location was correct and I even got a notification on my return message.

Oh yes, tracking does work, regardless of Google and MS with their proxies. But if you don`t believe all this or have ethical problems about tracking, then just leave tracking software alone for the rest of us to enjoy.

I am afraid that tracking is here to stay. The tracking businesses know all about the antics of Google and MS. They are in business to survive regardless of the progressive obstructive measures placed in their path. Many of the tracking company employees worked for these mighty moguls in the past.

The tracking fraternity appear to be very happy chappies and are not having any sleepless nights about it all.

9

Honestly, neither am I.

10

absolutely no malice to you @Kas or anyone who wants to use this sort of stuff, hey - whatever works for you - go for it! :)

it just not an area I need to keep my finger on.

once I click Send, it doesn't get a second thought unless it comes back. (hmmm, bit like a boomerang I guess)

11

I do not know what kind of pixel MSGTAG uses in their sent messages, but I have used MSGTAG for years with nearly 100% success rate on notifications. Fabulous.

I once emailed the British Prime Minister direct, the very pinnacle of power in this mighty nation of ours and even received a notification in that instance, saying my mail had been opened.

What I do know is that MSGTAG, being perfect gentlemen and scholars with a mind for etiquette and decency, leave behind an enormous bigfoot sized footprint that the mail has been read, purely for the recipients sheer delight. Signals and Bananatag do not leave any such trace that the message has been tracked. The recipient is in the dark that the sender has been advised they have read the mail..

MSGTAG footnote :-

MSGTAGFOOTNOTE_zps10056082.jpg

12

Here is a better link on the topic from Google themselves:

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/images-now-showing.html?m=1

I'm to test this MSGTAG software in a few minutes to see whether Gmail's security feature actually works.

13

Here is a better link on the topic from Google themselves:

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/images-now-showing.html?m=1

I'm to test this MSGTAG software in a few minutes to see whether Gmail's security feature actually works.

Like I said earlier, I did a MSGTAG test mail on Gmail today and it walked right past Google`s hum-drum, left that big footprint and sent me a notification that the mail had been opened.

Signals and Bananatag do the same but do not leave any visiting cards. Nah - Google and MS can write all the papers they want, but they cannot and never will stop tracking. Nobody wants subsequent openings, just the first. I am not interested in links that make statements which are no more than fantasy speculation.

14

Gmail; and soon Outlook.com, proxy external content in emails making tracking methods completely useless.

Not entirely, with content blocking the content isn't loaded, with proxy blocking its loaded, albeit harmlessly, resulting in a positive ID on an active email address, in theory.

15

Kas, are you using any of Gmail's mobile apps? As soon as my devices recieve a push notification alerting me of a new email; MSGTAG responds with an "email read" notification, even if it hasn't been opened.

The tracking only works with the web interface.

16

Kas, are you using any of Gmail's mobile apps? As soon as my devices recieve a push notification alerting me of a new email; MSGTAG responds with an "email read" notification, even if it hasn't been opened.

The tracking only works with the web interface.

I do not understand why MSGTAG signals an open when the mail has not been opened. Without the demon pixel seeing daylight, it is a technical impossibility, unless there is some particular hanky-panky irregularity with the particular system combination you have.

With MSGTAG, it either works or it does not. There is no grey area. Any false notifications must be due to some technical tangle in a specific system. I have never in my experience come across a false MSGTAG notification and cannot technically see how it can happen, without some hack type juggling.

I do not use any mobile apps or any other bits and pieces. Neither do I use webmail. My email systems are purely OE6, which I have used since Adam`s fig leaf blew away, with just an ordinary Gmail amd Outlook.com account on the net.

In all the years - over 10 - I have used MSGTAG, I have NEVER had a malfunction of any kind to my knowledge. All my open signals have been correct.

17

Kas, I suspect the reason it's not working is because Gmail (the mobile apps) prefetch the image resources of any received messages so they can be opened and read offline.

I have now confirmed this behavior by sending "tracked" emails to my Gmail account while my iPad, Galaxy Tab, Nexus 5 and Mac all have their respective Gmail applications running. With the exception of Mac OS X, MSGTAG is returning the "email read" response before the emails are actually opened.

The conclusion: MSGTAG does not work correctly if the recipient accesses webmail on a smartphone or tablet. Why? Because Google are downloading the tracking pixel and embedding it into the email when the push notification occurs.

It's a good thing only 1.75 BILLION people have smartphones now. Otherwise, your tracking method would be completely thwarted! Oh no!

18

Kas, I suspect the reason it's not working is because Gmail (the mobile apps) prefetch the image resources of any received messages so they can be opened and read offline.

I have now confirmed this behavior by sending "tracked" emails to my Gmail account while my iPad, Galaxy Tab, Nexus 5 and Mac all have their respective Gmail applications running. With the exception of Mac OS X, MSGTAG is returning the "email read" response before the emails are actually opened.

The conclusion: MSGTAG does not work correctly if the recipient accesses webmail on a smartphone or tablet. Why? Because Google are downloading the tracking pixel and embedding it into the email when the push notification occurs.

It's a good thing only 1.75 BILLION people have smartphones now. Otherwise, your tracking method would be completely thwarted! Oh no!

WOW ! Thanks for that technical explanation - I am totally discomknockerated with a mental melt-down.

If I were you, I would honestly contact MSGTAG (they are very nice friendly people) and explain the situation you describe here, so they can either answer your questions explicitly or take internal action to compensate for that particular matter. It is the kind of customer feedback they need to keep them afloat. You would be doing them a favor unless of course they answer your problem satisfactorily.

See :-

http://msgtag.com/contact/

A few years ago I dealt with -

Simon Young

support@msgtag.com
The address is most likely still OK, but Simon may have flown. Incidentally, MSGTAG are located in New Zealand.