Spy Pixels in Emails
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Am I correct in thinking that Vivaldi's built-in email client will block spy pixel tracking by default, or does one have to block images in emails?
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Steganography also serves to host malware in an image and for this reason practically all mail services block images by default, also Vivaldi Mail.
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Ha ha ha! I came here right after reading the very same article! :smiling_face_with_open_mouth_closed_eyes:
I'd heard of this before but seeing it again prompted me to do a bit of digging and I can confirm that my internet provider does insert these into mails sent to me (I found it straight away by doing "inspect element" on the mail window).
So then my next question was - fine, just let me revoke the "allow external content" permission I had granted... err... no option from the mail itself... no option in mail settings... no result searching all settings.
I suppose I could go digging through the extension data in my user profile, but I'm guessing that's not as easy as the old Opera 12 days of .INI files with settings in plain English. Is there a URL to open a mail settings page in Vivaldi?
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@Gwen-Dragon said in Spy Pixels in Emails:
@mossman said in Spy Pixels in Emails:
I can confirm that my internet provider does insert these into mails sent to me
If your provider does such bad things, encryption would be the only way to stop this. And nobody can trust unsigned mails.
To clarify: the pixel images are in mails actually sent by my internet provider (sending my monthly bill or whatever), it's not that they insert them in every mail I get.
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I have been told previously that the built in Tracker Blocker will block these 1 pixel images if they are trackers.
Also see this answer from a previous post. -
But can anyone tell me how to revoke the external download permission once I've given it for a certain sender?
I'm guessing this is missing functionality from the tech preview, but is there a list I can manually edit somewhere?
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I've been using simple HTML mode on Thunderbird to avoid tracking pixels. It only brings up text and allows for HTML links in an email, but no pictures are shown. Can we get a mode like that for M3?
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@mossman Edit that contact. Either from the dropdown menu in the header or by going to the contact from the contacts panel and uncheck the "Always allow external content" there
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@cynical13 Tracking pixels are blocked by default. Nevertheless, we're thinking about some sort of simple html mode, plaintext, or reader mode so that you could get a html mail alternative that might be more readable.
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@gmg said in Spy Pixels in Emails:
@mossman Edit that contact. Either from the dropdown menu in the header or by going to the contact from the contacts panel and uncheck the "Always allow external content" there
Hey thanks! That made me realise I never actually use the contacts views! It all seemed new and unfamiliar so I had to spend a moment working out where/how to edit...
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@gmg said in Spy Pixels in Emails:
@cynical13 Tracking pixels are blocked by default. Nevertheless, we're thinking about some sort of simple html mode, plaintext, or reader mode so that you could get a html mail alternative that might be more readable.
If I type "pixel" in the mail search bar, then inspect the mail body in developer tools and search again for "pixel"... I am finding tracking pixels...
So what does this mean? Does Vivaldi keep the code in the HTML but not actually render them?
(Edit: I find more if I search suspected mail bodies for "1px", although that means more work scanning the HTML to find them)
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I haven't yet put some sort of filtering on the contacts to filter out the autogenerated ones and the ones with external content enabled... But being able to stop allowing external content straight from the header should also be a thing (just haven't gotten around to it)
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@gmg said in Spy Pixels in Emails:
Edit that contact. Either from the dropdown menu in the header or by going to the contact from the contacts panel and uncheck the "Always allow external content" there
Thank you so much, this was driving me nuts!
@gmg said in Spy Pixels in Emails:
But being able to stop allowing external content straight from the header should also be a thing (just haven't gotten around to it)
Yes, please. This is so hard to find, I had to post a feature request / UI bug on the forum here.
I believe, somewhere near "Treat Sender as a Mailing List" in the header context menu as well as in the "Sender" submenu of a mail folder's email list item's context menu (that was a mouthful!) would be the perfect place for it.
