Free Online Storage

  • Subscribe to our RSS feed.
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Facebook
  • Digg

Thursday, 12 December 2013

Google Uses a Proxy to Load Gmail Images

Posted on 10:44 by Unknown
This is one of those features that users will love and marketers will hate (or maybe it's the other way around?). Until now, Gmail didn't display the images from messages sent by people that aren't in your address book if those images had to be loaded from an external site. You had to click "display images below" or "always display images from..." to see the images. This was done to protect your privacy: embedded images could set cookies or include unique IDs and inform those who sent the messages that you've read them or that the email address is active. Many newsletters and spam messages include images.

Google found a way to address this issue: it will display all the images by default, but load them from a proxy server. "Instead of serving images directly from their original external host servers, Gmail will now serve all images through Google's own secure proxy servers. So what does this mean for you? Simple: your messages are more safe and secure, your images are checked for known viruses or malware, and you'll never have to press that pesky 'display images below' link again. With this new change, your email will now be safer, faster and more beautiful than ever," informs Gmail's blog.


"Some senders try to use externally linked images in harmful ways, but Gmail takes action to ensure that images are loaded safely. Gmail serves all images through Google's image proxy servers and transcodes them before delivery to protect you in the following ways: senders can't use image loading to get information like your IP address or location, senders can't set or read cookies in your browser, Gmail checks your images for known viruses or malware. In some cases, senders may be able to know whether an individual has opened a message with unique image links," mentions Gmail's help center.

If the images are loaded using a proxy, the external server still receives a request and the sender can find if you've read the message. After all, this could actually be a good news for marketers: they may not get your IP address, but they'll know if you've read the message.

Here's some text that has been removed from the Gmail help article:

When you receive an email that contains externally linked images, Gmail usually doesn’t display the images automatically. This behavior is designed to help protect your privacy; if we displayed the images automatically, it could potentially allow the sender of the email to see that the images are being fetched, and therefore know when you've read their message. But, if someone you've sent email at least twice sends you a message with images in it, you'll see the image by default (because the people in this group are likely people you know and trust).

You can still choose to manually authorize images by selecting "Ask before displaying external images" in Gmail's settings. This is especially useful if you have a slow Internet connection or you want to be extra safe.

So when will you get the new feature? "This new improvement will be rolling out on desktop starting today and to your Gmail mobile apps in early 2014."
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to Facebook
Posted in gmail | No comments
Newer Post Older Post Home

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • More Google Experiments That Hide Results URLs
    There are at least two other versions of the Google experiment that removes search results URLs . The first alternate version places site na...
  • Add a Keyboard Shortcut for Chrome's App Launcher
    I'm not sure why Chrome's app launcher doesn't have a keyboard shortcut, but it's pretty easy to add one. For Windows XP, r...
  • Merge cells vertically in Google spreadsheets
    There are many times when you want to format your spreadsheets in a certain way to make your data easier to read and understand. Starting to...
  • Docs on the iPhone with Chris Pirillo
    Posted by: Meredith Whittaker, Program Manager Chris Pirillo , Gnomedex Conference founder, CNN.com Live technology contributor, and one of ...
  • Writing a campaign speech with Google Docs
    A few months ago, my colleague Julia and I were at a technology conference for educators. Teachers were very enthusiastic when we demonstrat...
  • Google Now for Google's Homepage in Testing
    It looks like Google Now won't be limited to Android, iOS and Chrome , it will also be added to Google's homepage. Some code from a...
  • Google spreadsheets, now with discussions
    Getting things done with others would be much easier if everyone was sitting right next to you. But since that’s rarely the case, we’re alwa...
  • Collect audience input with Google Sites & Moderator
    Google Moderator helps anyone find the best input from their audiences, whether it’s suggestions on how to stop the oil spill , debate que...
  • Get Docs in 38 languages
    Posted by: Ken Norton, Product Manager, Google Docs Earlier today we launched Google Docs in 13 more languages, bringing our total number of...
  • View .doc attachments right in your browser
    Cross posted on the Gmail blog If you receive Microsoft® Word files as attachments in Gmail, you can now view them with a single click -- no...

Categories

  • Acquisitions
  • Ads
  • Android
  • Annoyances
  • April Fools Day
  • attachments
  • back to school
  • Blogger
  • charts
  • chat
  • Chrome
  • Chrome extensions
  • chrome web apps
  • Cloud Connect
  • collaboration
  • comments
  • community
  • discussions
  • DMCA
  • docs
  • document list
  • documents
  • documents list
  • drawings
  • drivebacktoschool
  • Easter Egg
  • education
  • Faces of Docs
  • forms
  • gmail
  • gone google
  • Google Alerts
  • Google Analytics
  • Google Apps Blog
  • Google Apps Script
  • Google Calendar
  • Google Cast
  • Google Checkout
  • Google Chrome
  • Google Chrome OS
  • Google Cloud Connect
  • Google Contacts
  • Google Dictionary
  • Google Docs
  • Google Docs Viewer
  • google documents
  • google drive
  • Google Earth
  • Google Goggles
  • Google Hangouts
  • Google Instant
  • Google Keep
  • Google Latitude
  • Google Local
  • Google Maps
  • Google Music
  • Google News
  • Google Notebook
  • Google Now
  • Google Pack
  • Google Photos
  • Google Play
  • Google Plus
  • Google Reader
  • Google Sites
  • Google Suggest
  • Google Takeout
  • Google Talk
  • Google Toolbar
  • Google Translate
  • Google Trends
  • Google Voice
  • Google Wallet
  • Google+
  • googlenew
  • Greasemonkey
  • Guest Post
  • holiday
  • iGoogle
  • Image Search
  • images
  • InOut
  • iOS
  • Keep
  • Knowledge
  • mobile
  • OCR
  • offline
  • OneBox
  • paperless
  • pdfs
  • photo
  • photos
  • Picasa Web Albums
  • presentations
  • product ideas
  • profiles
  • quickoffice
  • Reddit
  • research
  • save to drive
  • scripts
  • Security
  • sharing
  • sheets
  • shortcut
  • slides
  • spell check
  • spreadsheets
  • stock photos
  • storage
  • students
  • tables
  • teachers
  • templates
  • Tips
  • User interface
  • videos
  • Viewer
  • Visualization
  • Voice Search
  • Web Search
  • Yahoo
  • YouTube

Blog Archive

  • ▼  2013 (519)
    • ▼  December (33)
      • Google Maps Easter Egg for Christmas
      • Google Music to Add Upload Feature
      • Sound Search Playlist in Google Music
      • Google Zeitgeist 2013
      • Google Zeitgeist Quiz
      • Google's Christmas Carols Easter Egg
      • More About Gmail's Proxy
      • Custom Maps in the New Google Maps
      • Auto Awesome Snow Shake in Google+ for Android
      • Updated Google Settings Page
      • Google Uses a Proxy to Load Gmail Images
      • Google's Animated Decorations for Christmas
      • The New Google Sheets
      • Google's Video Duration Experiment
      • New Google Sheets: faster, more powerful, and work...
      • 9 New Languages in Google Translate
      • 10 New Chromecast Apps
      • Google Settings Page for Phone Numbers
      • Connect Google Photo Spheres
      • Google Open Gallery
      • More In-Depth Articles in Google Search
      • Google's Mobile Image Search Adds Menu
      • Auto Awesome, Winter Special
      • Export Gmail and Google Calendar Data
      • The Old Google Contacts, No Longer Available
      • Location Autocomplete in Google Calendar
      • Short URLs in the New Google Maps
      • Chromecast Game
      • Personalized Embedded Google Maps
      • Google Santa Tracker
      • Chrome Download Tips
      • More Search Results in the New Google Maps
      • My Google?
    • ►  November (44)
    • ►  October (64)
    • ►  September (50)
    • ►  August (63)
    • ►  July (60)
    • ►  June (57)
    • ►  May (62)
    • ►  April (49)
    • ►  March (33)
    • ►  February (1)
    • ►  January (3)
  • ►  2012 (34)
    • ►  December (4)
    • ►  November (4)
    • ►  October (5)
    • ►  September (4)
    • ►  August (2)
    • ►  July (1)
    • ►  June (3)
    • ►  May (2)
    • ►  April (2)
    • ►  March (2)
    • ►  February (5)
  • ►  2011 (80)
    • ►  December (4)
    • ►  November (1)
    • ►  October (7)
    • ►  September (10)
    • ►  August (11)
    • ►  July (8)
    • ►  June (9)
    • ►  May (1)
    • ►  April (8)
    • ►  March (8)
    • ►  February (8)
    • ►  January (5)
  • ►  2010 (118)
    • ►  December (11)
    • ►  November (16)
    • ►  October (6)
    • ►  September (13)
    • ►  August (13)
    • ►  July (7)
    • ►  June (15)
    • ►  May (11)
    • ►  April (7)
    • ►  March (7)
    • ►  February (6)
    • ►  January (6)
  • ►  2009 (82)
    • ►  December (14)
    • ►  November (4)
    • ►  October (10)
    • ►  September (10)
    • ►  August (4)
    • ►  July (6)
    • ►  June (6)
    • ►  May (5)
    • ►  April (4)
    • ►  March (8)
    • ►  February (7)
    • ►  January (4)
  • ►  2008 (97)
    • ►  December (6)
    • ►  November (4)
    • ►  October (6)
    • ►  September (8)
    • ►  August (5)
    • ►  July (7)
    • ►  June (11)
    • ►  May (20)
    • ►  April (13)
    • ►  March (6)
    • ►  February (6)
    • ►  January (5)
  • ►  2007 (25)
    • ►  December (1)
    • ►  November (1)
    • ►  October (2)
    • ►  September (3)
    • ►  August (3)
    • ►  July (4)
    • ►  June (3)
    • ►  May (2)
    • ►  April (2)
    • ►  March (1)
    • ►  February (2)
    • ►  January (1)
  • ►  2006 (10)
    • ►  December (2)
    • ►  November (4)
    • ►  October (4)
Powered by Blogger.

About Me

Unknown
View my complete profile