I saw a tidbit about MSGTAG over at Lockergnome and thought I would post my two cents about it.
Now I admit, there are times when I sent an email and wondered if it was received. I hate read receipts and I never send those, so it’s one of those things where if I send an email and don’t get a response, I weigh the situation. Yes, it’s possible the person never received it, so you resend it or talk to them. However, that is always not an option – especially in a business situation.
So yes, this software might come in handy during those situations.
The flip side?
1) I have a serious problem with privacy here. With a read receipt, the person has the option send it back or not. With this software you have no idea it’s there – it’s tracking you. Guess you can tell I don’t like being tracked.
2) Can you imagine the drama this can cause if it gets popular? Have you ever received an email from someone you just wish would go away? Or an email from someone that you love tremendously, but you just don’t feel like responding to at the moment? With this software they will know exactly when you read it, which in my opinion, is none of their business.
3) It’s not accurate, at least on my computer. Depending on what email inbox the email goes in on my email program, it may appear as though I read it, when in truth I haven’t even looked at it.
4) Just what I need, to let a spammer know that they have a valid email address.
In my opinion, this is no different that other tracking devices because you can’t opt-out of it. Matter of fact, it’s worse cause you can’t opt-out or use Ad-Aware to get rid of it.
And I am saying for the record publicly, if I catch this shit on my children’s email accounts, I will be pissed because no one, and I mean no one has the right to track what my children do but me.