It seems that we’re under all sorts of attacks these days—from viruses (both the physical and technical kind) to domestic and global terrorism, we’re living in a threatening age. Now even the businesses we frequent are spying on us… According to a recent study, two-thirds of emails sent to customers contained a "spy pixels”. What’s shocking is that many of the largest brands (except for “big tech” firms) use these email pixels to “spy” on their customers… Though supporters of these spy pixels justify their use as being a known marketing tactic, which use is mentioned in their privacy policies, their blatant invasion of customers’ privacy is still being questioned. These spy pixels can give companies knowledge regarding when an email was opened (if at all), the amount of times it was opened, the device used, and the opener’s location (sometimes even down to the street.) No one is denying that this information provides valuable campaign insight, but we should be asking ourselves if it is really necessary, and furthermore not an invasion of our rights, for companies to know which street we live on. Being impossible to see these pixels with the naked eye, customers are largely unaware they’re being spied on.

User’s email address can be linked to their browsing history and mass amounts of data

What’s worse is that through the use of “cookies” a user’s email address can be linked to their browsing history and mass amounts of data can then be fed (unknowingly) into companies. With the 2003 Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (Pecr) and 2016 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the use of “spy pixels” clearly goes against these regulations, as the use of such features is ambiguous and not clearly accepted by users. Though we often joke about entering the age of Orwell’s 1984, it seems that these days we really aren’t too far off. With our every move being watched, the only question remaining is whether profit should triumph over our rights.

Read the full article here.

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