More Reasons for Paranoia
I posted an article on potential pitfalls of online communication, then read an email from the SitePoint Tribune about ReadNotify, “the most powerful and reliable email tracking service that exists today.”
Now I’m really going to scare those of you who avoid blogging because you don’t want to get grief from your company’s “Big Brother.” Here is what SitePoint Tribune Editor Brendon Sinclair reports in his latest newsletter column:
A friend of mine is the producer of a TV show. She recently received an email from a PR consultant pitching an idea for a story. She wasn’t interested in the story, so she deleted the email.
Ten minutes later, the PR consultant rang her and asked, “Why did you delete my email? You only read it for two seconds!”
That was absolutely correct. My friend did delete the email. And yes, she only had the email open for 2 seconds. My friend was starting to freak out. “How did this guy know all this?” she asked me.
Easy: the PR guy was using a program, like ReadNotify, which tracks in some detail what happens to the email when it hits the recipient’s email box, including:
The date and time at which the email was opened The recipient’s location (per their ISP city /town) A map of that location (available on paid subscriptions) Recipient’s IP address Apparent email address of recipient (if available) Referrer details (i.e. if accessed via Web mail etc) URL clicks How long the email remained open How many times the email was opened If your email was forwarded, or opened on a different computer
ReadNotify states that its product “does not use or contain any spyware, malware, nor virues, it is not illegal to use, and does not breach any privacy regulations in any countries.” Assuming all of that is true, this is another example of how what we write–and what we read–can be tracked much more easily, and surreptitiously, than some of us would have believed.
A couple of years ago, I was surfing a website, when a pop-up window opened and someone tried to engage me in on-line conversation. “Hi, I noticed that you were looking at our product, and I was wondering whether I could answer any of your questions.” Creepy! I said that I was “just looking” and got off of the site as quickly as possible.
For those of you who are in public relations, take note of Sinclair’s final point:
Needless to say, my TV producer friend was quite insulted that the PR guy rang her to complain. She now has a very negative view of this person and what she saw as his very aggressive ’spying’ on her.
August 16th, 2005 at 8:03 am
This is great, a way to tell someone their message was “Deleted. Not read.”
America OnLine introduced a similar feature in the 90s.
What we need now is a free download called ReturnToSenderTimesTen.
August 16th, 2005 at 9:14 am
Ron, thanks for pointing out that AOL had a similar feature. Actually, I hate the “Read Receipt” feature of Microsoft Outlook that some people use to say, “Don’t try ignoring my email, because I’ll know that you read it!” In the example I mentioned in my original post, the thing that creeped me out was the sudden realization that someone was watching me as I surfed. Then, that person expected me to warmly welcome his pop-up invitation to “talk.” I viewed my surfing as “window shopping,” where I wouldn’t expect an interaction with the sales staff. Mr. Pop-up saw me as a potential customer who had “entered his store,” and would be more prone to buy if a salesperson engaged me.
Tom Keefe
August 16th, 2005 at 10:48 am
Tom — This points out something fascinating (imo)… As we continue to self-select out of receiving marketing messages, how will marketers let us know about their products ? This is not to say I advocate heavy-handed, spyware-laden, sneaky-snake computer applications — and I’m mortified that the PR person would react so inappropriately…
But with mass media’s share of the mass shrinking, what’s on the horizon?
When I was pitching, it was hard to get even to a conversation with anyone to discuss the product… If we can’t e-mail, can’t mail, can’t phone and advertising doesn’t work unless it’s opt-in, where does that leave us?
Vey is Mier.
S.
August 17th, 2005 at 11:09 am
Tom,
Good article. Being also involved with IT security, I long ago decided to try to forego the fancy fonts and formatting of HTML e-mail and read my e-mail only in plain text whenever I could (which I do for my personal e-mail via Thunderbird). This does have the severe disadvantage that many e-mail messages wind up with truly horrible formatting, but it does have the advantage that these type of services (ReadNotify) generally don’t work at all. (It’s also incredibly easy to tell when a message supposedly from e-bay or PayPal is really trying to get you to go to some other web site.)
For a brief examination of how these services actually work, Network World has an article at http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/sec/2004/0920sec1.html
that introduces “web bugs”. The Electronic Frontier Foundation also has more information at http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Marketing/web_bug.html.
Regards,
Dan
August 17th, 2005 at 8:35 pm
Thanks for the links, Dan.
August 18th, 2005 at 9:11 am
I’d like to respond to Sean’s question about how to reach potential customers/consumers with marketing information.
I think the answer lies not so much in the marketing as in the product or service. In a world of increased self-selecting out of receiving marketing, the pressure will be on companies (or individuals) to develop products and services that truly deliver benefits to their customers.
I, for one, have no sympathy for purveyors of products and services that have questionable value and deliver limited benefits. Products and services that really help solve people’s problems or make their lives better, on the other hand, will be easier to market because consumers will be looking for these things.
In a recent workshop for entrepreneurs on how to market their products and services on a limited budget, I suggested that one of the most cost-effective marketing techniques is to have a superior product or service.
August 19th, 2005 at 11:45 am
I think I will have to use ReadNotify in order to find out where these comments come from (they were in the IABC Belgium Newsletter but I am quite sure that Robert Holland doesn’t live anywhere near, in spite of his name). So is this cafe global or local? And why are there so few contributions?
August 19th, 2005 at 6:12 pm
OK, so now I am totally paranoid - as if I wasn’t paranoid enough before. Protection of personal information is a huge and important topic. Many jurisdictions (including Canada) have introduced or are introducing tough laws meant to protect personal information. Good on ‘em.
I found it only slightly ironic (read heavy sigh and much eye rolling) when I heard a news story earlier today that Canada’s Justice Minister is calling for broader powers for law enforcement to have easier access to people’s email (and cell phone conversations).
Round and round we go. Where it stops, nobody knows.