MailScanner- tracking downlaods - a cautionary note

[Glenn Steen]

On 03/10/2007, shuttlebox <shuttlebox at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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
>
Quite true. And then we haven't lo0oked at the possibilities of the
Phishing updates etc... Or are those "distributed"?
Anyway, Jules can have a fair ballpark figure of how many sites that
use MS anytime he likes... Just som log analysis:-).

Cheers
-- 
-- Glenn
email: glenn < dot > steen < at > gmail < dot > com
work: glenn < dot > steen < at > ap1 < dot > se