Beware: Google just made it easier for people to know if you’re opening their email messages. Today, the web giant announced a change to its popular Gmail service: Images embedded in emails will now be automatically displayed, saving users from clicking on a “display images” link and, Google claims, making “your messages more safe and secure.” But buried in the fine print, a different picture emerges. The new setup also means that people and companies who send you email will be able to find out when you’ve opened and read their messages, because loading these images requires a call back to the sender’s server. That said, the sender still has to know how to rig their emails to take advantage of this, and that means that sophisticated corporations are far more likely to take advantage of this privacy hole than your friends and relatives. They’ll have to evade Google’s filters for “suspicious” content, and you’ll have to check your Gmail over the web — not via a local client — for this change to impact you. But it’s an important development. Other email clients automatically load images, but Google’s change brings this to what is now the world’s largest service. The good news is that you can turn off the new change. But most people won’t know any better. Read more http://www.wired.com/business/2013/12/gmail-spying-explained/
