HTML on the List

[Christian Baude <BAUDECB@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ever wonder how you get spamed!

>From the Tasty Bits web site:

++ Sneaky customer tracking by email.
   7:27:33 pm

   Scot E. Wilcoxon notes that he got an email from TurboTax -- so far
   so innocent, he uses their software. It was titled "Priority
   Announcement for TurboTax Customers." At the bottom of the email
was
   a link to an image:


src="http://info.turbotax.com/images/blankpixel.gif/Key=8910.Uhy.C87jIw";

   If your email client is set to display HTML, then TurboTax knows
   that you've read their email -- your browser displays a one-pixel
   invisible graphic and the "Key=" records your identity in their Web
   log. No cookies involved.

   Moral: if you care who knows what you read, then stop your email
   client from interpreting HTML.
=============================
Response from Intuit:

From: _bruce_lee_@xxxxxxxxxx
Newsgroups: alt.comp.software.financial.quicken
Subject: Re: A very sneaky Intuit web trick!
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 18:54:47 GMT
Organization: Intuit Inc
X-Complaints-To: newsmaster@xxxxxxxxxx
NNTP-Posting-Date: 19 Nov 1999 18:54:18 GMT
X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.5/32.451
Xref: tor-nx1.netcom.ca alt.comp.software.financial.quicken:15649

>From Intuit:

"We take your privacy (as well as every customer's) very seriously at
Intuit and would never want to do anything to jeopardize or compromise
the relationship we have with you.  Your trust in us is crucial to the
continued success of our tax business and keeping your trust is also
personally very important to me.  
With regard to the e-mail you received from us, it is true that the
technology we use enables our email program to know whether your email
program can read HTML messages. We do this so we can send you messages
formatted appropriately for your email program. If your email program
recognizes the HTML "flag" in the file, we can send you emails in HTML
format that includes formatting, graphics, etc. Otherwise, the absence
of this "flag" tells us we have to send you plain text-not a very
attractive way of sending messages. The technology we use is pretty
standard in the industry.
It is important to note that we do NOT collect any further information
from these e-mails.  Your personal information, activities, etc. are
never tracked and we have no intention of ever doing so.  Please
accept my apology for alarming you."
=============================

Interestingly enough, you'll notice that Intuit WEB tech support uses
Agent.   I wonder why?

-÷ Chris ß ÷-