Canary Mail has "read reciepts"

The proprietary email client listed under Privacy Guides’s recommendations for email client called Canary Mail emailed me some spam about them having “read reciepts”


I’m fairly sure that this is not part of the email protocol and that they might be using tracking pixels. Thoughts?

Read receipts are defined in RFC 2298, although I am not sure if this is the functionality they are using.

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I wasn’t aware of that. Thanks for letting me know.
I’m not sure why I didn’t already Google it, probably because I’m tired and it’s 10pm and i just got home from work but I did find an article that says yes they do infact use tracking images Email Read Receipts: Who's Reading Your Emails? | Canary Email


Yikes. I just tested and a plaintext email containing “123” is sent as this.

Very interresting that they looked into whether pixels are legally binding but they forgot to check if it is legal at all.

Email pixels without consent are illegal under the GDPR.

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Probably a good time to take a look at Arca by Privacy Everywhere

It’s still early in development, and I have not personally used it, but emClient for iOS may fill the niche Canary is leaving behind: