Re: How to know whether a person clicked a link in an email

[Lou Quillio <public -at- quillio -dot- com>]

David Neeley wrote:
> Although I generally agree with Lou's comments regarding privacy,
> there are still some proper uses for knowing whether a message was
> opened.

Hold on.  That's not in dispute.  As mentioned, if you want someone
to confirm they've read your message, ask them to confirm.  If you
want someone to confirm that they've followed a link in your message
and read the content there, ask them.

That's what return receipts are:  a reply message, a second piece of
email that your recipient knows he's sending.

We were talking about acknowledgments your recipient doesn't know
he's making.  You might argue that your intent isn't nefarious, but
it's not up to you.

This is really simple stuff.  If you won't clearly state that "the
link below will take you to our white paper and record that you have
viewed it", don't use tracking URLs.

In fact it's simpler than that.  Don't employ tracking methods that
you, or your boss, or your lawyers would object to being used on
themselves by any parties that haven't disclosed the fact in advance.

> it may also be a reasonable legal strategy to be sure that
> policy announcements or other significant information is actually
> distributed to all employees.

Won't work, because usage tracking of this type doesn't *prove*
anything.  It's 'harder' than fully anonymous data, but it's still soft.

> Whether one can consider that "NOT ETHICAL" on its
> face I seriously doubt.

Where there's full disclosure, there's no problem.  Where there
isn't, there's an ethical breach.  Now two ways about it.

LQ

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