How to prevent being tracked while reading your Gmail – The Verge

There is likewise a basic action you can require to avoid most trackers: stop your e-mail from immediately packing images, given that images are where most of these pixels hide. You will not have the ability to avoid all of the trackers that may be hidden in your email this way, but you will stop numerous of them.

How does it work? A single tracking pixel is embedded into the e-mail, typically (but not always) concealed within a link or an image. When the e-mail is opened, code within the pixel sends out the info back to the companys server.

Considering that 2014, Google has served all images through its own proxy servers, which could conceal your place from at least some tracking applications. And there are alternative internet browsers that highlight personal privacy such as Brave and the Tor Browser.

There are a variety of approaches utilized to track emails. Lets say you click a link in a marketing email that leads to the page for an item you want to purchase.

All of those obnoxious marketing emails that crowd your inbox arent just pressing a product. Theyre likewise tracking whether youve opened the email, when you opened it, and where you were at the time by embedding tracking software into the message. Simply type “email tracking” into your online search engine and enjoy all the software apps appear.

While its fairly easy to identify a redirect link (for one thing, you can frequently identify all the extra code included to the URL), there are other techniques that arent quite so apparent. The technique that were looking at here is tracking pixels.

Disable image autoloading on a computer system

Disable image autoloading on a mobile phone.

In the Gmail app, pick the three-line icon in the upper left corner.
Scroll down and choose “Settings.”.
Select the e-mail account you want to fix.
Scroll down to and choose “Images.”.
Select “Ask prior to displaying external images (likewise disables vibrant email).”.

Note that this will also turn off Gmails vibrant e-mail function, that makes email messages more interactive.

Turn image autoloading off in Gmails settings.

In settings for your mobile Gmail account, scroll down to “Images.”.

You can now disable the autoloading of images.

Click on the gear icon in the upper right corner.
Click on “See all settings.”
In the “General” tab (the very first one), scroll down to “Images.”.
Select “Ask prior to showing external images.”.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on “Save Changes.”.

A single tracking pixel is embedded into the e-mail, normally (but not always) hidden within a link or an image. When the e-mail is opened, code within the pixel sends the info back to the businesss server.

All of those obnoxious marketing emails that crowd your inbox arent just pushing an item. Theyre likewise tracking whether youve opened the e-mail, when you opened it, and where you were at the time by embedding tracking software application into the message. Just type “e-mail tracking” into your search engine and watch all the software application apps appear.