Re: E-mail Privacy

[Glenn Leavell <glenn () USG EDU>]

On Tue, May 25, 2004 at 12:22:08PM -0700, Javier Torner wrote:

# Hello everyone,
#
# I received the following message about a new product called Rampell
# Software.
#
# The site www.didtheyreadit.com is legitimate and it claims to do
# what the message indicates.
#
# I looked for the reference to the State of Texas report but I could not
# find it.
#
# Has anyone seen this before? Comments? Is anyone blocking this site?

Many e-mail clients have a setting to disallow the viewing/loading of
remote images, which should neutralize the didtheyreadit service.  For
example, I know that Mozilla Thunderbird, Eudora, and Squirrelmail all have
this option.

Below are several items taken from the didtheyreadit.com FAQ, along with
my comments:

  Q.  How does DidTheyReadIt differ from the Read Receipts I use in Outlook?

  A.  DidTheyReadIt is much more powerful from standard "return receipts."
      It differs from standard read-receipts because it works regardless of
      the e-mail program being used by the recipient.

      [ This is simply untrue.  For example, it didn't work with my e-mail
        client because I have it configured to disallow off-site HTML
        processing. ]

  Q.  Will my recipient know that I am tagging my e-mail?

  A.  No. Not unless you want them to know.

      [ This is also untrue.  A savvy recipient can easily tell that
        they're being bugged. ]

  Q.  Does DidTheyReadIt contain any spyware?

  A.  No. We respect the privacy of our users. For more information, please
      see our privacy policy.

      [ Ha!  No, DidTheyReadIt doesn't *contain* any spyware, it simply
        *is* spyware. Talk about your Orwellian speech! ]

Glenn

--
Glenn Leavell <glenn () usg edu>
Director, Systems Support Services
Office of Information and Instructional Technology
Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia

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