Email Tracking

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Wittmann

Hugh, for Heavens sake, do you not understand the first principles of tracking anything ? Do the military have to request the permission of their radar target before they carry on ? Come off it Hugh, let us consider the real world.

Glad you admitted it was a desperate example because there are strict rules over who can fly over UK airspace and, I suspect that flying in UK airspace is considered to be legal consent to be tracked on Radar. It's certainly more important to the country that our military be able to track potential threats in our airspace than your ability to see whether someone has read an email you sent.

To have a tracking system whereby the recipient can cancel the return notification is so ridiculously crazy that the very suggestion becomes nothing more than a joke.

So, it's crazy to think that people, given the choice, may not mind being tracked? After all, it's fairly well known how much Google, Facebook et al. track us, but a lot of people are happy to use their services knowing that.

Personally, I do not mind people being tracked. I just ask that consent is obtained (and not assumed) before the tracking begins. As such, people opt in to be tracked, not be tracked then opt out. I have pointed out, however, how tracking may not be accurate (and if it's not accurate, I don't see the point of it).

Final word. I will respond to sensible posts but not to this continual conflict of personal morality vs. tracking, which destroys the very concept of communications technological improvement and results in nothing more than an incidental squabble.

That is it Hugh, over and out.

How does a "continual conflict of personal morality vs. tracking" "destroy the very concept of communications technological improvement"? Ever major advance in communications and technology (from the invention of the post office, through the invention of the telephone to the latest and greatest internet communication systems has taken place *without* tracking being a major component.

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by Chris

Is it your honours degree that has made you such a fine judge of character, or your distinguished career in engineering? Or perhaps it's your decade of experience of Internet forums?

I think you'll find it's his distinctioned degree and his honours career in engineering.

A resounding success for Bananatag Email tracking is described in this customer report :-

http://blog.bananatag.com/2015/03/11...f20cb-64164685

And that demonstrates the commercial advantage of Email tracking.

And this supports your (non-commercial) case for getting read receipts without the recipient's permission how?

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Wittmann

A resounding success for Bananatag Email tracking is described in this customer report :-

http://blog.bananatag.com/2015/03/11...f20cb-64164685

And that demonstrates the commercial advantage of Email tracking.

I presume you don't do anything illegal in your front room.

So would you be ok if I stood at your window, looking inside when your curtains are open?

Originally Posted by Russ

I presume you don't do anything illegal in your front room.

So would you be ok if I stood at your window, looking inside when your curtains are open?

The sales people in the blog would not agree with your rather unrelated comment. They went WHOOPEE for tracking and so do I. Great innovation and enhancement to communications technology.

Great unsolicited invasion of people's privacy - whoopee indeed.

I hope you have no objection to people standing outside your house, videoing your every movement (and using infra-red for when you close your curtains), and then posting it on YouTube.

Great innovation and advancement for entertainment technology.....

[MovedGoalPosts]

If websites in the UK (and Europe) are now obliged to advise you, and gain consent that they have cookies that amongst other things are tracking you, i.e. potentially invasive of privacy, then similar tracking systems embedded into emails should also require opt in consent. The problem is simply that tech is moving the goal posts so fast that the legislators cannot keep pace.

I thank you for that recent article link as it in turn has prompted me to realise that the majority of these unsolicited spam mail systems are in turn tracking me, without my knowledge or consent, and worse, by clicking the un-subscribe options I'm giving them even more data.

I have enough problems with phishing and scam mails that to now know that these are likely to be tracking me has motivated me to do everything I reasonably can to block tracking on behalf of both myself and my work colleagues.

People may find this article of interest, especially regarding openness, transparency, opting-in, and actively informing recipients about the tracking that is happening.

http://www.smartinsights.com/marketp...open-tracking/

If the email trackers having nothing to hide, why not let the recipient know they've been tracked?

[Osem]

Originally Posted by Russ

I presume you don't do anything illegal in your front room.

So would you be ok if I stood at your window, looking inside when your curtains are open?

All you'd see is the OP banging on his aged Goodmans TV and cursing his Tivo...

https://www.cite.co.uk/how-the-eu-co...ail-marketing/

How the EU Cookie Law Will Affect Email Marketing

The main focus of the regulations are targeted at websites and how they use on-site advertising, analytics, and other stored traffic information, but since email marketing uses open tracking systems to monitor the engagement of recipients (for example, who opened it, what links they’ve clicked, etc), email marketers must now gain consent to track recipients’ information.

While we can’t give legal guidance on what you have to do to follow the new regulations and protect your campaign, here are a few key points to keep in mind:

• Get consent before tracking and monitoring email engagement. This applies to new subscribers as well as those currently on your database.

• Include a message on your sign up form stating that you will be tracking engagement with your emails. For example “Sign up to our monthly newsletter to get the latest information on our company. Signing up also means you’ll allow us to track and monitor the emails we send to you so we can improve our communication with you.”

• To get permission from your current recipients, make consent the call of action on your next email. Keep this message above the fold and include it in an image as well as part of the text.

• If you are using a “soft opt in,” meaning you don’t ask for consent at the point of capturing an email address, follow up with an email asking permission to track user engagement.

• Include a Privacy Policy that informs people on what tracking you will be carrying out, why you use it and how it will affect your recipients.

Originally Posted by Hugh

Great unsolicited invasion of people's privacy - whoopee indeed.

I hope you have no objection to people standing outside your house, videoing your every movement (and using infra-red for when you close your curtains), and then posting it on YouTube.

Great innovation and advancement for entertainment technology.....

Hugh,
Your examples of illegal activities quoted against a perfectly legal activity is astonishing.

Originally Posted by Wittmann

I am finished with this thread.
There is nothing you can say or do that will alter the widespread practice of Email tracking one iota. Enjoy your day. I have unsubscribed from this thread.

Originally Posted by Chris

I bet you keep looking.

Ta-dah.

Originally Posted by Wittmann

Hugh,
Your examples of illegal activities quoted against a perfectly legal activity is astonishing.

A) can you show me where it states it is illegal to stand outside your house filming?

B) Are you gaining consent for your email receipt requests, as stated under the PECR?