Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Google Makes It Harder For Marketers To Collect User Data

Posted by timothy on from the no-peeking-now dept.

cagraham writes "In a seemingly minor update, Google announced that all Gmail images will now be cached on their own servers, before being displayed to users. This means that users won't have to click to download images in every email now — they'll just automatically be shown. For marketers, however, the change has serious implications. Because each user won't download the images from a third-party server, marketers won't be able to see open-rates, log IP addresses, or gather information on user location and browser type. Google says the changes are intended to enhance user privacy and security."

4 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. And google will retain that info exclusively. by Spamalope · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While I applaud the move, it is about competitive advantage for Google.

    1. Re:And google will retain that info exclusively. by pradeepsekar · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The article does not state of all images would be cached automatically even if you have not read your mail. It only says that images would be served through a Google proxy server, which caches the images.

      So if Google proxies and caches the images when you open the mail, there is no protection added from marketers, except for the fact that Google can scan the images for exploits.

      And if Google proxies and caches the images as soon as the service receives the mail, marketers can verify if the address is a valid gmail address or not by just sending mails and waiting for Google to cache the image. Expect more spam if this is the case.

      There will be true protection from email tracking only if Google caches the images in all emails it receives, even if the email address is invalid - and that would increase the load on Google servers quite a bit.

  2. Cutting into their business by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Of course they're cracking down hard - stealing user data is Google's job...they don't like the competition.

  3. Re:They do see open rates by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Multiple tests by multiple individuals have shown that they do NOT honor any of the various no-cache headers.

    Tracking unique users is still easy (using a unique URL) - but tracking how many times they opened the email, or where they opened it from (IP address) or on what platform is now lost.