[epub] Re: Newsletter Open-rate tracking

[Ravi Jayagopal <Ravi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sorry about replying to my own post, but I received
a bounced email which said that it could not be
delivered because it had an image or attachment in it.

Though I deliberately did not use the H*ML tag, I
realized that I forgot to disable the image tag.

So, for those of you who got a broken link instead
of the text that I intended you to read, here it
is again, with a '*' in place to disable rendering
of the htm*l.

<SNIP>

For instance, your web bug may look like this:
<IM*G S*RC="http://somesite.com/tracking.php?subscriber=Joe@Subscriber.com">

</SNIP>

Ravi
"STOP THIEF!", you can say!
Stop those bloody pirates who steal your
ebooks, your PDF files, and your bandwidth.
http://www.WebmasterInABox.net/download_protector.html




At 03:05 PM 5/3/02 -0400, you wrote:
>Hello epub'ers!
>
>Here's some full-bodied draft beer for those of you
>visiting the "pub" this weekend :-)
>
>-> Sometime back there was a thread about tracking the
>open rate of newsletters.
>
>Actually, it is possible - or some of it is possible -
>using what are called as "web bugs" or "web beacons".
>
>Simply put, web bugs, or web beacons are 1x1 pixel
>(of 1 pixel width and 1 pixel height) images, or something
>that "looks" like a reference to an image, while it may be
>actually referring to a web script or program.
>
>In fact, though they use the IMG tag (HTML), they
>rarely if ever refer to an actual image - not at all like
>the "spacer.gif" types!
>
>Because they are 1x1 pixel in size, they are practically
>invisible. But the image or the program they "request"
>can actually be used to collect an amazing amount of
>information about your reader/viewer/subscriber.
>
>For instance, your web bug may look like this:
><IMG SRC="http://somesite.com/tracking.php?subscriber=Joe@Subscriber.com">
>
>If you can program your newsletters to be created
>dynamically with a web bug such as the one above
>containing the email address of each subscriber
>(something like mail merge), then a tracking program,
>you can track not only how many times your newsletter
>was previewed - they don't even have to be opened -
>but also which of your subscribers are reading your
>newsletters.
>
>But beware, web bugs are the center of a huge privacy issue.
>So, make sure you do your homework correctly on the potential
>legal implications.
>
>Doing a search on "web bugs" or "web beacons" on Google.com
>will give you a lot of related links and sites if you need
>more information about how they work or the resulting privacy
>issues.
>
>You probably don't know this, but many hi-tech spammers
>are on to this technology, and are able to easily
>validate your email address even if all you do is just
>preview the email in your "preview" pane in email
>clients like MS Outlook or Eudora!
>
>So, you might want to rethink whether you truly need
>to preview messages before reading them - especially
>if you get a lot of spam.
>
>Hope you enjoyed your weekend drink.
>
>Cheers! And drive safely ;-)
>
>Regards and have a great weekend,
>
>Ravi Jayagopal


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