Tracking pixels (also called web beacons, web bugs, tracking bugs, web tags, page tags, pixel tags) are small 1 x 1 GIFs which are embedded in emails by marketers and some email companies to track the following:
- when did you open your email
- where did you open your email
- how many times did you open the email
You probably haven’t seen a tracking pixel, at least not with your naked eyes, because they can literally be a single 1 x 1 pixel image buried somewhere in an email. They’re often completely invisible because they’re transparent.
And if you are receiving emails from a perfect stranger and their email had tracking pixel, then by reading that email you to give up your location every time you read that email, all without you knowing. Seems bad, probably!
The classic example: if someone knows when you’re home and when you’re away, robberies become a bit easier. Spammers and phishers can use the technique to know which email subject lines got you to click. And there are loads of vulnerable people (including women and minorities) who really, really don’t want some random person on the internet tracking their moves just by sending some emails.
The email tracking also has useful and valid use cases. For example, journalists could probably make a case for them as a reporting tool. (When the high-ranking government official reads your request for information and ignores it, that’s worth knowing.) And publishers depend on tracking pixels to determine the open rate of their newsletters, which are becoming an increasingly important distribution mechanism for journalism.
That said, recipients deserve a solution to opt out of being tracked.
So do you want to ensure your privacy is protected in Gmail? Email Tracking Blocker automatically detects and blocks email trackers. Email Tracking Blocker is free for anyone using Gmail or an email account hosted by G Suite.
We at cloudHQ take privacy seriously: we are bootstrapped and we know that we are only as good as the trust we have built with our customers. So we have built Email Tracking Blocker (Email Privacy Protector) . This extension will sniff out pixel trackers before you open an email, and remove them entirely.
And here are some reasons why to use Email Tracking Blocker (Email Privacy Protector):
Reply to Messages with Confidence – Be in Control
Blocking embedded email trackers means you can respond with confidence, knowing the sender is unable to gain data about you from you. And you can control when they can be notified when you read their email.
Stop Spammers in Their Tracks
Blocking embedded email trackers means you can respond with confidence, knowing the sender is unable to gain data about you from your email activity. And you can control when they can be notified when you read their email.
Protect Yourself Against Pushy Salespeople
Many salespeople are fantastic. Others just don’t know when to quit. If you’ve ever been flooded by emails from an overly-ambitious salesperson, there’s a good chance they were using a tracker to see when you opened their emails. With Free Email Tracking Blocker, these kinds of annoying salespeople will be blocked from seeing your activity.