On Privacy and Tracking Pixels

The privacy debate in tech has been interesting to watch unfold. First there has been a relative backlash against Facebook (interestingly not so much Instagram) and Google regarding their data collection and leaks. Then regulations like GDPR and CCPA have resulted in creative interpretation of the rules (and in my opinion will only be sorted out after actual enforcement actions in the courts). Lately the focus has been on beacons and tracking pixels - used on web pages, but specifically the ones in email.

I'll admit that while I've been limiting what Facebook and Google can collect on me and my family, I've been negligent in ignoring the real impact from tracking pixels. Actually I've been guilty of thinking along the lines of: "well everyone is tracking email opens, everyone knows that it's happening, I expect it when I open an email, and I get value out of it myself."

The real world reality is that most people don't know what a tracking pixel is, or that likely every email they open now is using one. Nor do they understand just how much data about themselves they are leaking out. Beyond marketing data collection, profiling and targeting there are real world issues with on-line and in real life abuse. Plus let's be honest, they're creepy as hell. Would you ever want to get a phone call, "hey Bob I saw you just opened my email for the 10th time"?

To quote a great movie: "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should." Just because tracking pixels are technically possible, and just because they are being used, doesn't mean that they should be.