Did you know that marketers (and even hackers) can use images to track you in your email inbox?

Here’s how the so-called tracking pixels work:

1. Someone creates an image and hosts it on their server. Usually transparent 1×1 “tracking pixels” that you can’t even see.

2. They will send you an email with the image.

3. When you open their email, their pictures automatically load. It sends a lot of information back to their servers. This includes your IP address, which they can use to identify you and find out where you are in the world.

Sounds like a shiver in the back, right? However, it is very common.

Most companies do use tracking pixels. Most email marketing tools make it easy for marketers to include tracking pixels in an email mass.

But there’s an easy way to stop tracking pixels and protect your privacy. All you have to do is turn off images in your inbox by default.

Don’t worry – you can still click a button to load the images you’ve received from trusted friends and family. Let’s take Gmail as an example

How to turn off all images in Gmail by default

Gmail has an option in its Settings to turn off images by default.

Select the ask before showing external images radio button and click the Save Settings button below.

If your email contains an image, it now looks like this:

If you click the “Show image below” link, this is what the email looks like after the image shows:

You no longer have to worry about opening E-mail and reminding the sender of your IP address and other sensitive information.

It also blocks those pesky MailTrack services that marketers use to see if you’ve opened their email so they know when to send you another email.

This is an important step you can take in one minute to reclaim some of your privacy online.

I hope this article has been helpful. I hope the nuggets can protect their privacy and pay attention to their own safety.