I've recently become aware of a snoopy little Chrome extension called Yesware. Yesware brands itself as an email productivity service for salespeople. It enables those who use it to know when, where, and from what device someone has opened an email.
It does this by embedding an invisible pixel in each email, and notifying the email sender when, where, and how that pixel has been served. Simple enough technology. Simply creepy, maybe.
Nick Tommarello writes on his blog about one way to keep Yesware users from tracking you: disable images. But that's like killing a fly with a bazooka. He also says blocking Yesware can be done with Microsoft Exchange, combining server-side and client-side rules.
There has to be a simpler way to protect my privacy from those who are using Yesware. Any help?
Best Answer
Email image bugs like this are nothing new. People have been trying to use them for years. That's why Gmail by default doesn't display images in email until you explicitly tell it to (usually by marking the sender as trusted).
I don't allow images to display in any message except from a very few select senders. Sure, it requires an extra click if I decide I want to see images, but that's not that burdensome and the vast majority of the time I don't need to see the images anyway.
I disagree with your assessment that turning off images is a bazooka for killing a fly. I suggest that rather it is an effective anti-fly technology for a number of different types of very annoying flies.