“Tracking pixels in email have become rampant”

• if and when an email is opened
• the number of times it is opened
• the device (s) concerned
• the approximate physical location of the user, deduced from their Internet Protocol (IP) address – in some cases allowing the street on which the recipient is located

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This information can then be used to determine the impact of a specific email campaign, as well as to populate more detailed customer profiles.

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Hey co-founder David Heinemeier Hansson says they constitute a “gross invasion of privacy”.

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Photo credit, Getty Images

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And other experts have also questioned whether companies are as transparent as the law requires about their use.

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Invisible tags

Tracking pixels are typically 1×1 pixel .GIF or .PNG files, inserted into the header, footer, or body of an email.

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Since they are often displayed in the same color as the content, they may be impossible to spot with the naked eye, even if you know where to look.

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Recipients don’t have to click a link or do anything to activate them, just open an email addressed to them.

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British Airways, TalkTalk, Vodafone, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, HSBC, Marks & Spencer, Asos and Unilever are among the UK brands that Hey has detected to use pixels for.

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But their use is much more widespread, although many citizens are unaware of it, according to Mr Hansson.

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It’s not like there is a flag in most email software that says “this email contains a tracking pixel”, “he adds.

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Hey offers such a service, but users have to pay an annual subscription.

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Photo credit, Hey

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Users can also install free plugins in other email programs to remove lots of tracing pixels. Other options are simply to set their software to block all images by default, or to display emails as text.

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“On average, each Hey customer receives 24 emails a day that attempt to spy on them,” says Hansson.

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“The top 10% of users get over 50”.

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“We handle over a million emails a day and we’re just a tiny service compared to services like Gmail, but that’s over 600,000 blocked spy attempts every day.”

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The BBC also uses email pixels in some of its communications, although this was not noted by Hey.

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Follow-up phone calls

Tracking pixels are a standard feature of automated email services used by businesses large and small, and in many cases it is difficult to turn this feature off.

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Two years ago, Superhuman, a consumer-focused email client, attempted to expand its use to the public as a default feature, but backed off after a public outcry.

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This has had little impact on the marketing industry’s continued reliance on this technology.

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Customers can use them to track the number of emails opened in a specific campaign, as well as automatically stop sending messages to customers who ignore them.

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But a Princeton University study also indicated that the data collected was sometimes linked to a user’s cookies. This allows an individual’s email address to be linked to their more general browsing habits, even when switching between devices.

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The resulting links between identities and web history profiles contradict the claim of “anonymous” web tracking, “the newspaper warns.

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In addition, trackers can also lead to personalized follow-ups.

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Photo credit, Getty Images

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Especially with marketers or consultants, they may say, “I saw you open my email yesterday, but you haven’t responded yet. I can call you,” says Hansson.

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“And in some cases, they get downright aggressive when they see you’ve opened it three times but still haven’t responded.”

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Privacy laws

The use of tracking pixels is governed in the UK and other parts of Europe by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (Pecr) of 2003 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR ) of 2016.

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These regulations require organizations to notify recipients of pixels and, in most cases, to obtain their consent.

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A privacy consultant said the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) had previously ruled that such consent must be “unambiguous” and “a clear affirmative act.”

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“Just putting something in a privacy notice doesn’t constitute consent, and it’s hardly transparent,” said Pat Walshe of Privacy Matters.

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“The fact that there is a follow-up and what it implies should be made evident to the user and involve him in his choice.”

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“The law is clear enough, what we need is regulatory enforcement. Just because this practice is widespread does not mean that it is correct and acceptable.”

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Mr. Walshe noted that the ICO had used a pixel in its own electronic newsletter.

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Photo credit, ICO

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The regulator told the BBC it was being used to track email opens, but not the location of users, adding: “We are working with our provider to remove pixel functionality and this should be finished soon.”

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The BBC has asked some of the companies that Hey identifies for their own response.

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British Airways responded: “We take customer data extremely seriously, and we use a cross-industry standard approach that allows us to understand the effectiveness of our communications with customers.”

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TalkTalk responded, “As is common in our industry and others, we track the performance of different types of communications to understand what our customers prefer. We do not share this data externally.”

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