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Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

theintercept.com

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Re: Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

#11

Post by Aethers »

jaclaz wrote: post #10

>Emails demanding deletion of the memo contained “pixel trackers” that notified human resource managers when their messages had been read, recipients determined. This seems like the worst part (not that the rest is not bad), anyone has an idea of what this "pixel trackers" are and how they actually work?

It's a small transparent pixel loaded from a website (assuming the email client loads HTML). I'd make a unique image called mywebsite.com/jaclaz_read.png and when that image was loaded I'd know you read my email.

Re: Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

#12

Post by GlitchMr »

jaclaz wrote: post #10

>Emails demanding deletion of the memo contained “pixel trackers” that notified human resource managers when their messages had been read, recipients determined. This seems like the worst part (not that the rest is not bad), anyone has an idea of what this "pixel trackers" are and how they actually work?

Probably something like " rel="nofollow">http://google.com/pixel.gif?mailid=23949129"> in a mail. When you download the image, Google knows you have read the mail.

Re: Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

#13

Post by d4l3k »

jaclaz wrote: post #10

>Emails demanding deletion of the memo contained “pixel trackers” that notified human resource managers when their messages had been read, recipients determined. This seems like the worst part (not that the rest is not bad), anyone has an idea of what this "pixel trackers" are and how they actually work?

Pixel trackers are just small embedded images in the email that when they are fetched from a server, the server logs it. Pretty simple way to track whether or not someone has opened an email. It's my understanding that gmail however downloads all images and then serves them from Google servers to avoid this issue entirely.

Traditional email clients like Outlook/Thunderbird are susceptible to this kind of attack. That's why they often ask you before loading images.

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/set-email-tracking-pixel-493...

Re: Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

#14

Post by Ionlyprograminc »

jaclaz wrote: post #10

>Emails demanding deletion of the memo contained “pixel trackers” that notified human resource managers when their messages had been read, recipients determined. This seems like the worst part (not that the rest is not bad), anyone has an idea of what this "pixel trackers" are and how they actually work?

Pixel trackers are invisible images which are the size of a single pixel hidden within a given email (Not visible in most mail clients). These images are sourced from a unique url (unique per email address) which when accessed are tracked by the web service as a view of a given email from a given individual. These are usually used in marketing emails to see how effective their campaigns are.

more info @ https://en.ryte.com/wiki/Tracking_Pixel

Re: Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

#15

Post by dekhn »

gaius wrote: post #9

Emails demanding deletion of the memo contained “pixel trackers” that notified human resource managers when their messages had been read, recipients determined. Not very nice being tracked is it? I hope that will be a wake-up call for everyone at Google.

Many google engineers already knew that a great deal of information was being collected on them.

Re: Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

#16

Post by [deleted] »

jaclaz wrote: post #10

>Emails demanding deletion of the memo contained “pixel trackers” that notified human resource managers when their messages had been read, recipients determined. This seems like the worst part (not that the rest is not bad), anyone has an idea of what this "pixel trackers" are and how they actually work?

[deleted]

Re: Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

#17

Post by gaius »

dekhn wrote: post #15
gaius wrote: post #9

Emails demanding deletion of the memo contained “pixel trackers” that notified human resource managers when their messages had been read, recipients determined. Not very nice being tracked is it? I hope that will be a wake-up call for everyone at Google.

Many google engineers already knew that a great deal of information was being collected on them.

But this will bring home the reality of how it can be used against them. Just as they have helped to gather information that could be turned against ordinary people very easily.

Re: Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

#18

Post by RamshackleJ »

tareqak wrote: post #8
ipsum2 wrote: post #4

Genuine question: why is there not more outrage over Bing working in China? Surely there's as much user tracking/censorship as Google is doing?

Microsoft and Bing never started with the mantra of "Don't be evil". Microsoft also has a much more established history of working with different government agencies and foreign governments. The perceived contrast from what people expect from Google and what Google is doing now is just that much more glaring/obvious.

Yep claiming to be a force for good when behaving like an amoral organization only concerned with profit optimization is what irks people.

pretending to be something you aren't is whats frustrating

Re: Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

#19

Post by canadianwriter »

jaclaz wrote: post #10

>Emails demanding deletion of the memo contained “pixel trackers” that notified human resource managers when their messages had been read, recipients determined. This seems like the worst part (not that the rest is not bad), anyone has an idea of what this "pixel trackers" are and how they actually work?

Just want to throw out that pixel trackers are EXTREMELY common - you probably have an insane amount in your inbox now and a lot of email software uses them by default. Not saying this is okay, just giving that context.

Re: Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

#20

Post by skybrian »

creaghpatr wrote: post #5

Well sure, they censor/manipulate their users, why wouldn’t they do the same to their employees?

You do realize that anything you do for your employer belongs to your employer? And that protecting trade secrets is part of practically every employer agreement?

There are whistleblower exceptions, but generally, if you can't be trusted to keep secrets, you're not a professional.

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