For some users, email is an indispensable tool, while others hate every new alert in their inbox. But we also need to add an extra detail: email is much more than a little text, images, and attachments. Different campaigns and distribution systems use it to track their potential users/clients in a very subtle way, and that's where Trocker comes in. This extension compatible with Chrome and Firefox is responsible for identifying and blocking the most common forms of email tracking, including hidden links and invisible images.
A new email appears in your inbox. You open it, notice that the system blocked image loading for security reasons, and you click to authorize. You read it, delete it, and forget about it. Next email, you repeat the cycle.
But there's more: The person who sent it can know whether you've opened the email or not. How? With small details like a camouflaged link or a 1x1 pixel image at the end. Analyzing each email manually to detect those trackers would be crazy, however, the Trocker extension for Firefox and Chrome gives us the possibility to automate the entire process, and avoid email tracking.
Avoid email tracking with Trocker
Once the installation is finished, all you have to do is go to Trocker's settings (click on its icon) and put a check mark on the Expose Trackers option. This will do two things: reveal the location of hidden images with a 'T' letter, and change the mouse cursor when it passes over a link that is being tracked. It also adds a secondary icon (another 'T' letter) next to the email address, and hovering over that icon will show a summary of all detected trackers.
Trocker has two other aspects worth mentioning. The first is that it only activates when a tracker is detected, so there is no risk of memory leaks or anything like that. And the second is that it works locally. It only needs permission to access all tabs, but there is no outgoing connection, nor does it receive background updates. As if that were not enough, the Trocker project is open source, so anyone interested can study its code.
Trocker should be able to work on any webmail service, but it has special optimizations for Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and Outlook.com. The extension was recently updated in all its versions. Why don't you give it a try?
Official site and downloads: Click here
