ATLANTA — Images embedded in the emails you receive from major retailers are allowing those companies to track you.
Channel 2 consumer adviser Clark Howard says there are ways you can prevent them following what you click.
For years, we've known about the use of tracking cookies by companies looking to figure out what our web browsing habits are.
The information they gain lets them know what we like, where we shop and what sorts of advertisements we'd likely be drawn to.
"The data that constantly grows about you is very, very valuable, is extremely valuable to marketers and advertisers," said Dennis Dwyer, with Dell Secureworks.
But you're not just being tracked while searching the web. Many people are unaware of the data that they are providing.
Howard has learned that companies are now embedding tiny one pixel by one pixel images in emails they send us. When the user accesses the images, then they know that the user is opening the email.
Gmail has started intercepting those images before you, as the user, open the message, and the sender will not be made aware.
"There's a lot of gotchas and a lot of ways that trackers can be implemented," Dwyer said.
Howard said the easiest way to protect yourself is to install a plugin, like Ad Block Plus or Ghostery, but even those may not work 100 percent of the time
"Overall, I think that users should just be aware that this type of functionality exists," Dwyer said.
Howard said we are in a continuing game of cat and mouse with companies that want to feed stuff to us based on what they know about us.
Yahoo! got so upset about people using blockers, they blocked people recently from accessing their email reportedly.
So know you get a lot of things free on the web, but in return for that freedom and that free stuff, you give up your privacy.
Cox Media Group
