Email Reflector

What You Are Disclosing Through Tracking "Fingerprints"

Tracking Pixels Are Following You

A tracking pixel, also known as a web beacon, clear GIF, or pixel tag, is a tiny, often invisible image embedded in digital content like emails. Typically a 1x1 pixel graphic, it is virtually undetectable to users. Tracking pixels raise significant privacy concerns because they collect information without explicit user consent. When you open an email containing a tracking pixel, your email client sends a web request to load external content referenced by the email, thereby revealing certain data.

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Empowering Mutual Support: The Transformative Role of Anonymizing Email Reflectors

Mutual support groups serve as lifelines for individuals navigating a myriad of challenges ranging from mental health to substance abuse, gambling, eating disorders, and beyond. These groups cultivate safe spaces for face-to-face discussions, whether in-person or virtual, fostering supportive communities where members connect, share, learn, and grow together. Through mutual assistance, understanding, and encouragement, participants bolster each other’s resilience in the face of adversity.

Yet, the support network often falters outside of scheduled meetings, leaving members reliant on sponsors, mentors, or partners during non-meeting times. This limitation restricts access to the full group and available support options.

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The Dangers of Group Email

Bowling teams, extended families, school groups, community groups, and many more are part of our lives. We all belong to these groups and many of these groups primarily use email to communicate and coordinate. This is well and good until it isn’t.

When we sign up at a website there are terms of use for our personal information and legal and financial liabilities to these companies if they don’t handle your information correctly. These ad hoc email groups have no such protections. We are trusting all the other members of the group to act responsibly and protect our information. For many groups this trust is appropriate, but for some it is not.

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Stop Oversharing Your Email Address

Every few months we hear about a “data breach” at some internet company or organization. The end users’ exposure from these breaches are variable depending on what information was taken. In virtually all these cases users’ real names and email addresses are obtained. In other cases, companies are caught sharing peoples’ names and email addresses to data brokers.

While online companies have been a vector for loss of email privacy, they are in general, trying to protect identities and are often being held accountable for their mistakes. I’m not writing today to talk about this risk. It is our sharing of our personal email addresses to friends, acquaintances, and just about anyone else on the internet. It is this self imposed risk to personal privacy I want to confront.

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What is an Email Reflector and why would I need one?

An Anonymizing Email Reflector is an email service that allows for the sending of email within a group while hiding information about the original sender of the email. This is useful when a group of people wish to communicate via email but there isn’t a high level of trust between the members. This lack of trust in how one’s information will be used, or abused, is a barrier to such groups gaining members.

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