MailScanner- tracking downlaods - a cautionary note

[shuttlebox]

On 10/3/07, Quentin Campbell <Q.G.Campbell at newcastle.ac.uk> wrote:
> Scott Silva said:
>
> >> Jules
> >You can always add some sort of "phone home with permission" type of
> >thing to keep track of the installed base. Maybe something that sends
> back OS and
> >maybe a randomly generated and locally stored signature. That way you
> would
> >get a better idea of how many mailscanners are out there.
> >Any body who is very paranoid could opt out.
>
> Julian
>
> If you chose to go down that route please be open and public about it
> and ensure every downloader is fully aware that MailScanner will send
> back info about usage to you.

Wasn't this meant as a harmless way of tracking MS usage? It's very
open and anyone can replace it to their liking.

# When a web bug is found, what image do you want to replace it with?
# By replacing it with a real image, the page layout still works properly,
# so the formatting and layout of the message is correct.
# The following is a harmless untracked 1x1 pixel transparent image.
# If this is not specified, the the old value of "MailScannerWebBug" is used,
# which of course is not an image and may well upset layout of the email.
# This can also be the filename of a ruleset.
Web Bug Replacement = http://www.sng.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailscanner/images/1x1space
r.gif

-- 
/peter