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GMail will now always show images by default

gmailblog.blogspot.com

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Re: GMail will now always show images by default

#11

Post by endergen »

leephillips wrote: post #6
wnevets wrote: post #2

I dont understand the (Tracking always?) part of the title.

This part of the title was an editorial addition by the submitter. No doubt he his thinking of the use of images in email to signal that the message has been displayed (loading the image sends a request to the server, which can be logged). However, the submitter didn't read the article that he submitted, in which Google explains that they are storing copies of the images on their own servers precisely to disable thes…

They don't explicitly say it disables tracking at all. They say:

    Simple: your messages are more safe and secure, your images are checked for known viruses or malware...
Unless I missed something. I read it twice. Can anyone point to text that says otherwise.

Re: GMail will now always show images by default

#13

Post by blazingice »

free652 wrote: post #5

Looks like gmail proxies the images via https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/ . I don't see an issue, gmail is already tracking me, but the sender can't track me.

Does the fetch happen immediately when Google receives the email? Or does it occur the first time the user opens the email?

If the latter, sender image tracking will be alive and well.

Re: GMail will now always show images by default

#14

Post by RossM »

I wonder if Google is going to add an Analytics component for Gmail or provide some user-agent lists. Email is hard enough to test and get working well; for the Gmail segment you won't know what browser versions to prioritise testing in now.

Pretty effectively spoils Litmus and others though.

Re: GMail will now always show images by default

#15

Post by endergen »

dudus wrote: post #4
wnevets wrote: post #2

I dont understand the (Tracking always?) part of the title.

Agreed, that seems like pushing FUD down everyones throat. Why not leave comments to comment section and use original post titles instead.

I wasn't trying to spread FUD. Was looking for clarification. But fair enough, there is an issue with link baiting on HN. The conversation.

I've now modified the title to not include the (Tracking always!?) text at the end.

Re: GMail will now always show images by default

#16

Post by [deleted] »

blazingice wrote: post #13
free652 wrote: post #5

Looks like gmail proxies the images via https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/ . I don't see an issue, gmail is already tracking me, but the sender can't track me.

Does the fetch happen immediately when Google receives the email? Or does it occur the first time the user opens the email? If the latter, sender image tracking will be alive and well.

[deleted]

Re: GMail will now always show images by default

#17

Post by badbrain »

endergen wrote: post #7
wnevets wrote: post #2

I dont understand the (Tracking always?) part of the title.

I'm the poster, didn't mean to be provocative. The blog post didn't explain how the secure proxy works. Normally email marketing uses a tracking image that has a unique url to detect which users open an email. I'm wondering what the behavior is for that now. Is all email open tracking broken now? Good thing for users, not so good for email marketing campaigns/tools. Was hoping some gmail devs would comment here. The…

see: http://blog.movableink.com/gmails-recent-image-handling-chan...

Re: GMail will now always show images by default

#18

Post by endergen »

badbrain wrote: post #17
endergen wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm the poster, didn't mean to be provocative. The blog post didn't explain how the secure proxy works. Normally email marketing uses a tracking image that has a unique url to detect which users open an email. I'm wondering what the behavior is for that now. Is all email open tracking broken now? Good thing for users, not so good for email marketing campaigns/tools. Was hoping some gmail devs would comment here. The…

see: http://blog.movableink.com/gmails-recent-image-handling-chan...

Definitely looks like some tricks can be blocked. But no mention of how it'd affect the classic technique of having a single pixel image with a unique URL (Per user) so that you can track opens.

I'm assuming at this point that that would still work. But as mentioned in the Movable Ink article all sorts of other tracking and image request headers are lost.

Re: GMail will now always show images by default

#19

Post by untog »

free652 wrote: post #5

Looks like gmail proxies the images via https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/ . I don't see an issue, gmail is already tracking me, but the sender can't track me.

Yes they can. All I need to do is
and I can tell whether you opened it or not. Google could strip out query strings in their proxy, but I'm not sure that's a good idea.

Re: GMail will now always show images by default

#20

Post by palebluedot »

untog wrote: post #19
free652 wrote: post #5

Looks like gmail proxies the images via https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/ . I don't see an issue, gmail is already tracking me, but the sender can't track me.

Yes they can. All I need to do is and I can tell whether you opened it or not. Google could strip out query strings in their proxy, but I'm not sure that's a good idea.

Presumably Google would cache the image on receipt, not on open. If that is the case, then the sender has no way of knowing if you actually opened the email (unless you do so from a desktop IMAP/POP client).
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