Re: Can't "DidTheyReadIt" be stopped?
From: N. Miller (duh_at_blackhole.aosake.net)
Date: 06/09/04
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Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2004 12:13:53 -0700
In article <OsI50FNTEHA.2944@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl>, Paul H says...
> This morning my ZD Net AnchorDesk linked to a page about "DidTheyReadIt":
> ( Nowhere to hide: who really reads
> your e-mail? ). I cannot believe that Microsoft cannot/will not prevent
> this "one-pixel, transparent GIF file" from sending information without my
> permission, or that my ZoneAlarm does not detect it?
Microsoft already has a fairly crude measure in place; "read in plain text
only". Somebody else has posted that MSFT will be adding a feature to block
the loading of images from remote servers; a better way to handle this
issue.
ZA can't block outbound calls to port 80 without blocking your browser from
accessing web servers on the Internet. I don't think ZA Free can be much
help, but I think that ZA Pro is able to block by remote IP address. The
firewall I am using certainly does that.
> Must I really reduce
> my email experience to "plain text" to avoid this intrusion?
Or use a firewall that will allow you to block remote IP addresses which you
don't trust.
> Does every reference in every email and/or web page to external "one-
> pixel, transparent GIF files" convey information about me (and you) to
> whomever wants it?
The pixel, itself, contains no information whatsoever. What happens is that
the HTML code in the email will request the image from the remote server,
and the server will log the IP address of the source of the request. If the
site hosting the image is organized so a requested image filename associates
to a unique code, the hosting server will log which image was requested,
thus giving the hosting server administrator some correlation between the
message sent and the image requested. Do understand, any information about
you must already exist at the remote site; they can't pull any information
by pushing a 1x1 pixel .gif in response to a request.
> Can I turn off the feature that downloads pictures after the email has
> arrived, when I get around to reading it or allowing it to appear in
> the preview window? Let me decide which ones I will tolerate?
Not at present, except by either firewall blocking the site hosting the
image (you would need to know ahead of time which site that is), or by
setting MSOE to "Read all messages in plain text". You can turn off the
Preview pane to prevent the loading of images by unopened email. Reportedly,
SP2 will bring MSOE up to a level of operation already available in many
superior MUAs by adding the ability to disable remote image loading.
My preferred MUA, Pegasus Mail, reports such messages as containing "Lazy
HTML", and will not allow the images to load. You have to set the mail
program to activate the browser, and even then, PM will only fire up the
browser, and not send the request itself (as MSOE does). One other nice
feature about Pegasus Mail is the ability to hack together a rule based on
the existence of "Lazy HTML" in an email message.
-- Norman ~Win dain a lotica, En vai tu ri, Si lo ta ~Fin dein a loluca, En dragu a sei lain ~Vi fa-ru les shutai am, En riga-lint
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