A guide to which email providers are tracking you (and how to get around it)

Think that every time you open your email you aren’t being tracked? You’re wrong. As for who’s tracking your emails, the answer is: everyone. Reagan.com reports that public email providers, such as Google, AOL, Microsoft, or the like, can be outfitted with “a code that enables users to see exactly when an email they sent is opened, and from where.” But there are ways to get around this invasion of privacy.

How they get you

Let’s say you get an email from a solicitor – no big deal, as spam emails are par for the course these days. But when you accidentally open it, you find that for the next month, you’re receiving email after email from this unwanted nuisance.

Now let’s say you open an email from a prospective client, then suddenly, you’re signed up for their mailing list, or a barrage of unwelcome calls start flowing in from this person and their colleagues. Maybe your emails are being tracked – but don’t panic. This guide explains how and why that happens, and how to prevent it.

What’s email tracking?

Email tracking might sound like a scary covert operation, fit more for a cigar-smoking MI-6 agent than a marketing agency, but the concept is simple. As for who’s tracking your emails, the answer is: everyone. Reagan.com reports that public email providers, such as Google, AOL, Microsoft, or the like, can be outfitted with “a code that enables users to see exactly when an email they sent is opened, and from where.” It’s less about which email providers are tracking your email, and which companies are tracking your emails.

It’s worth noting that a 2017 study from Princeton University found evidence that 85% of emails contained third-party content, and 70% of emails had some sort of tracking software inside. Third-party content is defined by freeCodeCamp as an entity other than the website you’re visiting – like a targeted ad, or a pop-up – that “tracks or assists in tracking the user’s visit to the site.”

Hubspot adds that these emails are tracked by software that places “an invisible image pixel in your emails that can detect the exact time and date an email has been opened by a recipient.” Sometimes, they can even track your location through one’s IP address, though that’s less likely, which serves as a tool for data collection rather than stalking.

Email tracking, though referred to by Vice as “creepy and invasive,” isn’t necessarily the devilish device one might think. Though it definitely counts as corporate surveillance, there’s a difference between enormous firms using it as an impersonal investigative device and your clingy ex-boyfriend making sure you read his fifth check-in email of the week.

Greycoder, the online expert on bypassing internet blocks and online privacy, goes a step further, claiming that “regular email is an inherently insecure medium. This is because email is always sent to someone else – if you send an email to someone who uses Gmail, your email will be scanned by Google.”

While email tracking might be ambiguous on an ethical front, its place in the business world is firmly secured. Companies who provide these services, like Superhuman, Front, or Mailtrack continue to thrive after thousands of clients, and decades in business. Though this seems like a flourishing industry, it might be a bit confusing to those who aren’t so tech-savvy. Why does someone care so much about when their email is read?

Why do companies use it?

Email tracking can be helpful for companies or individual entrepreneurs attempting to collect information or build client relationships without explicit communication. Hubspot continues that “if you see that a contact has opened your email multiple times in one day, you can follow up while you’re top-of-mind.” Regan.com notes that a nosy client “might be ringing you on your work phone just moments later to try to close the deal” if they have tracking software that allows them to see your email checking habits.

Additionally, if your email also included links or attachments, using email tracking, you can check if your client or networking connection has clicked on them, and how many times they’ve done so.

While privacy concerns are rampant in email tracking software, businesses often use it as a productive tool to keep an eye on partnerships. There are a large number of companies from SC&H to small ecommerce firms that rely on email tracking for sales and business relationship purposes.

How do I avoid it?

Though it might seem like email tracking might make you want to get rid of your Gmail address all together, a lot of the time, it’s not about the server, it’s about how you use it. Though if you aren’t comfortable with the safety features on your Google or Hotmail accounts, one option to avoid email tracking is to use an email server that scans and sorts emails for you. You’d have to make a new email address using their server, but you’d avoid the hassle and worries around having your data unwittingly collected. Some options are Protonmail or Fastmail, which are encrypted email providers.

Another way to avoid email tracking is to look for external images, as that’s usually where tracking software is embedded. For the most part, they’re almost invisible, undetectable pixels, even if it’s in someone’s logo or headshot at the bottom of their email signature.

Tech website Hongkiat provides this list of third-party apps that detect emails automatically, which could be helpful in scanning for tracking software. But be warned that unverified browser extensions that claim to detect email tracking can also send your information to data collectors. Make sure the app or extension you use is verified, and Google anything you plan to use for internet security before you invest in it.

Additionally, it’s an important rule of thumb that if you see an email from someone you don’t know, don’t click any links inside of it, because on top of being tracked, you might be downloading a virus. Generally, to keep from being taken advantage of online, use common sense – if it looks sketchy, it probably is.