How Spammers Track Your Online Activity
Much of the spam that takes place over the Internet is made possible through surreptitious tracking methods. Would-be spammers are sometimes able to glean information about you – or even obtain your email address – from seemingly innocuous activity that you engage in online.
It’s worth noting that many of the tracking methods we’ll highlight in this post are considered ‘above-board’. Many are even employed by advertisers and other online entities. In some cases, tracking methods like these enable websites to deliver ads relevant to your previous search history or Internet usage. The truth is that a great many organisations are trying to track your online activity – spammers included. With that in mind, we’re going to cover a few of the most common ways that anyone (including spammers) can track your online activity.
HTTP Referrers
This is a common tracking method, and it has relatively limited utility for spammers. Whenever you visit a new website by clicking on a link, there’s a good chance that the new site will be told where you came from. This allows it to serve you ads and content that is presumably of more interest to you.
The HTTP referrer header used in this process can also be used when loading content on a webpage. This is a crafty way in which email spammers can check to see if you’ve opened an HTML email. This in turn tips them off that a particular email is viable. In other words, it’s a means through which spammers can test an email address to see if an active user is on the receiving end.
Tracking Scripts and Cookies
One of the most common ways for anyone to track your online activity is with cookies and tracking scripts. Cookies are very small pieces of information that a website places on your machine so that it can recognise you when you return. This is what allows a website you frequent to remember your login name, or a particular setting that you prefer.
Cookies are also used by advertisers. You’ve probably noticed that, after visiting a particular site online, you continue to be served ads related to that site for some time afterward. This is the result of cookies embedded on your machine. It may come off as unnerving (or even creepy), but it’s also an advertiser’s dream come true. It allows them to serve you ads that are (presumably) of more interest to you.
If you don’t like the idea of having cookies on your computer, you can sometimes opt out. But even if websites require you to allow cookies (as many do), you can still delete them from your browsing history.
‘Super’ Cookies
Cookies are one thing; and so-called super cookies are quite another. These are able to embed themselves more deeply on your machine, and they may not be cleared out when you opt to delete tracking data on your computer.
A common (if outdated) example of the ‘super cookie’ is Evercookie, which stores data in multiple places on your computer, thereby evading the usual suspects as far as your browser is concerned.
It’s inevitable that online players will be able to track your activity to some extent, but that doesn’t mean you have to resign yourself to receiving unwanted spam. Let MailCleaner help you create a spam-free environment for your browser.