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Testing didtheyreadit.com's Mail-Tracking Claims

Posted by timothy on from the fantastic-claims-require-extraordinary-evidence dept.

iosdaemon writes "didtheyreadit.com claims to be able to track your sent email: "When, exactly, your email was opened. How long your email remained opened. Where, geographically, your email was viewed. DidTheyReadIt works with every single internet provider and e-mail account, including EarthLink, AOL, NetZero, Juno, Netscape, Hotmail, Yahoo, and much more." Read on for more. "This appears to be snake oil. I put it to test just in case someone had come up with some magical code. I sent email from a Yahoo.com account through the service, to an account on a Linux Box. Running tcpdump, I received the email from my pop and let 5 minutes pass before opening it. I left the message open with the cursor in the text for another 5 minutes. Tcpdump revealed absolutely no questionable traffic. And, the service control panel indicated the email had not been viewed. Sending email to a Yahoo.com account results in a 'read' in the service CP. But I had the message open for 10 minutes, and it indicated a 2-minute read......"

The company's "How it works" page explains the system to some degree; it involves redirecting all mail to be tracked through their servers by appending "didtheyreadit.com" to your recipient's email address. I doubt this is mutt-compatible ... Reader xrxzzy points out USAToday's article on the service as well.

5 of 400 comments (clear)

  1. Lets Implement a Similar System by KhalidBoussouara · · Score: 5, Funny

    To see if people read the article before posting on Slashdot.

    This post is a joke so don't moderate down. Also I am aware that this wouldn't be really effective.

    1. Re:Lets Implement a Similar System by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      MOD PARENT DOWN. This wouldn't be effective mea...
      aww crap.

  2. Re:Definitely snake oil. by E_elven · · Score: 5, Funny

    There's a way to go off line? What does one do in this 'off-line' state?

    --
    Marxist evolution is just N generations away!
  3. Re:get your privacy back easily by Pike65 · · Score: 5, Funny

    How do I do that in pine?

    --
    "If being a geek means being passionate about something, then I pity those who aren't geeks." - Pike65
  4. It's a scam, and here's how I know by BillX · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have identified this service to be a scam using the "superfluous female person standing next to logo" method. I'm still wondering where her headset went, though...

    --
    Caveat Emptor is not a business model.