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Why Do Webmail’s & Desktop Email Clients Hide Images By Default?

by | Saturday, 04th Jul 2009 | 5 Comments | Share

One of our readers asked a interesting question today, the reader basically asked us that he signs up for a lot of newsletters, however whenever he opens up them in , the images are hidden and he has to click on a link to show the images.

This is not uncommon and can also be seen when using desktop email clients like and Windows Live Mail.

blocked_email_images_gmail

The reason for webmail providers and desktop applications blocking the images is because when you load a image, it can be used to send back personal information about you to the email sender.

blocked_images_windows_live_mail

For example a image can send back your IP address, type of operating system used and so on when it is loaded.

This is one of the main reason images are not loaded automatically in email messages, however you can still view images by clicking on the link which says Show Images or Display Images below.

Remember do not load images if the email has come from an non trusted source as they can create a problem for you.

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I am the editor-in-chief and owner of Techie Buzz. I love coding and have contributed to several open source projects in the past. You can know more about me and my projects by visiting my Personal Website.I am also a social networking enthusiast and can be found active on twitter, you can follow Keith on twitter @keithdsouza. You can click on my name to visit my Google+ profile.

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  1. Michael Aulia on July 4th, 2009 at 11:06 am #

    Useful info. I never know that displaying an image can be used to send information back :)

  2. Arun Shivaram on July 4th, 2009 at 12:22 pm #

    Thanks for sharing this useful piece of info ! :)

  3. unitechy on July 4th, 2009 at 12:23 pm #

    whoa.. i dint had slightest idea image sends info. thanks

  4. Alfred on July 4th, 2009 at 4:34 pm #

    I knew images could be used to track if an email was opened. But never knew that so much info could be sent back !

  5. Juscelino M. Acevedo on July 5th, 2009 at 10:06 am #

    Very useful information. Just as important is knowing that images can also be used to embed viruses which can infect once the image is viewed.