# Can spamers tell I am looking at their messages when they contain web content? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2002, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-spamers-tell-i-am-looking-at-their-messages-when-they-contain-web-content/134628 "2002-10-31T02:23:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-spamers-tell-i-am-looking-at-their-messages-when-they-contain-web-content/134628/1 "2002-10-31T02:23:35Z")
Most spam nowadays is filled with graphics and pictures (which make them take up even **more** bandwidth and memory!! :mad: ), however some of the messages seem to be loading the images from the net and not from the mail itself. Is this so? If it is, does this mean that the spamer can tell that I am looking at his message everytime a picture is requested and loaded? ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-spamers-tell-i-am-looking-at-their-messages-when-they-contain-web-content/134628/2 "2002-10-31T02:41:26Z")
Sometimes. If you look at the HTML source of a spam that’s loading images from somewhere else, it’ll say something like \. When your browser requests that image from their server, they know that someone at your IP address is reading their spam. If they want to, they can send a different image name to every address on their list and keep track of who gets which image name. That way when you open one of their messages, they know your IP address and your e-mail address and they know your address is good. I don’t know how common this is. I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never seen any sign of it (like a bunch of random letters in image names) in any of the spam I’ve looked at. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-spamers-tell-i-am-looking-at-their-messages-when-they-contain-web-content/134628/3 "2002-10-31T02:48:22Z")
God Damn it! I hope that this is not true… Is there anyway I configure Outlook to not request net material, even when the mail calls for it? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-spamers-tell-i-am-looking-at-their-messages-when-they-contain-web-content/134628/4 "2002-10-31T03:48:06Z")
Don’t accept/use/support HTML email. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-spamers-tell-i-am-looking-at-their-messages-when-they-contain-web-content/134628/5 "2002-10-31T04:05:24Z")
Don’t accept/use/support HTML email. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AmbushBug](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ambushbug/32/4600_2.png) [@AmbushBug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmbushBug)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-spamers-tell-i-am-looking-at-their-messages-when-they-contain-web-content/134628/6 "2002-10-31T05:10:07Z")
My IE6 came with a “Links” entry on the toolbar called “Toggle Images.exe”, a small ~30K application which apparently tells IE to stop loading pictures & graphics on webpages. I use the toggle to read the spam on Hotmail which I can’t be sure is spam, to prevent the image loading. Especially if I’m at work (burned once on this). This might only work in web-based email, like Hotmail - I don’t know if it has an effect on mail readers. -AmbushBug ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-spamers-tell-i-am-looking-at-their-messages-when-they-contain-web-content/134628/7 "2002-10-31T06:26:18Z")
Regarding the OP, yeah, there are these things called Web bugs. In fact, they can embed a link for an image 1x1 in size, so you can’t see it, but they will know you read that stuff. Solution? Read e-mail offline. 😃