Forum

WARNING:careful, gmail might display images,read thread carefully 5/11/2009
 

it appears gmail has been having trouble with there "display images" option in the emails today. i logged in to check a few different accounts only to find that the first email i opened up was displaying images all the sudden. i'm kinda worried now about one of my accounts now. i opened a "message from ebay member" one..

Just dont click the links/pics - is it still happening?

You can always make sure your settings are set to not display pics.

You should be ok though - just dont click.

bend,

What are you running? XP, Vista, IE? I upgraded the latest XP and have had this problem for the past 4 days:pout:

hasn't done it to me. running vista and I never update anything... as it usually seems more unstable.

i run vista 64 with firefox and haven't updated or changed a thing in weeks. i went to the gmail forums and noticed lots of activity with peoples "display images" option being reset and/or "won't stick" lately and figured mine was affected also. i say it would be wise to turn off browser images completely if you use the webmail version. I think I'll be setting up outlook or some other software to IMAP access my gmails from now on so something silly like this doesn't get any accounts shut down.

i thought if you opened an email on a stealth account from a suspended ip you're in trouble. would make sense if ebay generated images intended for one legit recipient and a suspended ip was accessing them it could create a link.

Turn pictures off in your browser when reading web mail. Don't trust the webmail site to block images as maybe ebay found a way to bypass it.

I had the problem pop up on about 1/3 of my gmail accounts. One of the accounts, I could not re-enable the option to NOT display images.

Other affected accounts mysteriously started displaying images again - oddly, only for some ebay mails and not for any email from anywhere else. Only ebay and only certain ones. Was able to turn them back off in every case except one.

Since I only access each email under the appropriate windows login that matches the ebay/pp account the email addy is associated with, it wasn't a tragedy for me.

gmail accounts not connected to ebay/pp were completely unaffected.

I can't explain why it might have happened, but I have been studying the problem since the moment it occurred, 3 days ago. I'll post back if and when I establish anything solid.

Paranoia sometimes pays.

That also happened to me, about a week ago. I logged into gmail and images were being displayed. It also wasn't a problem for me, because I use separate user accounts. The next day it stopped displaying images. I'm not sure why, I didn't change any settings. :typing:

I dont understand, are you saying that ebay is accessing googlemail.com stored flash/cookies or that they are seeing the IP somehow, i thought that was impossilbe under gmail?

I dont have flash on any off my windows users at the moment, am I still at risk?

I access all emails on each account of gmail under just one user because I thought I was safe, I look at all gmail accounts everyday. It would take too long to keep switching just to view emails on dozens of accounts.

my gmail says external images not displayed, and gives options under it, always display images from ebay.uk etc.

I think it is the safest thing to do.

What is method or mechanism that ebay could see multiple emails for different accounts?

Can you advise?

That is how mine has been set. Images off.

A few days ago, the images turned themselves back on for certain ebay messages (yellow button and watched items) for about 1/3 of my accounts. I didn't turn them on.

oompaloompa, I can't give any specific advice yet. Still studying the problem. For now, I guess be extra careful and only open each gmail account under the same rules you use for stealth ebay login. Change windows login first, then do your thang!

If it's only eBay, then eBay has found a way to bypass gmail's block. Now there's no way to contact a human at gmail so you can't report it.

For me, it was only some ebay mail. Not the regular spam type ebay stuff (seller newsletters).

I use Firefox, and lately I've noticed ebay and PP access causes my top bar to behave differently than it used to - and differently than it currently does for other sites. I can say that I strongly suspect ebay and paypal are trying to get more control over browser behavior.

Also, just as an experiment, I set my flash storage to zero for everything, deleted all stored stuff manually, and then wandered around ebay and paypal both. Stuff got stored anyhow. 'splain me dat!

I'm about ready to start running a linux box with some obscure browser with redirect of all cookies and objects to the Eff Tee Cee (or some other) main site (bypassing my system), just for access to ebay and paypal.

Same with me, it was only for questions asked through ebay.


Jonas, I doubt Ebay found any way to bypass gmail's image block, because it only lasted for 1 day for me. It is now back to blocking images.

i thought anything from gmail only shows gmail's ip anyway when this is sent back to the sender...so does this actually matter?

the pictures in the email are loaded from the viewers ip. if you click on the properties of the image, you'll see that your browser loads the image from ebay/paypal and not on a google server.

i think this problem is with the "display images" option when your reading messages via gmail webmail. their webmail software has been "forgetting" if you want images displayed or not. it is a bug on gmail's side - not ebay hacking their system..

:thumb: bend,
Thanks for posting about this info. Just the sort that the forum needs to win battles with ebay. Cheers:cheer:

Update:

Earlier today I manually turned off all images and confirmed that images were not displaying.

All email from ebay coming to any and all of my gmail accounts is now DISPLAYING images at of 2:00am EST 05-11-2009.

I am accessing my gmail accounts directly from Firefox, not from a POP or IMAP client.

^^^Conclusion? Be very cautious until further notice?
Asking just to keep everyone up to speed with this.:pout:

Currently, I would be very cautious.

You can log in to gmail and view your message list safely. It doesn't matter what IP or Windows Login you use for viewing the message list. However, do NOT open any messages from ebay unless you are on the proper IP to open a particular ebay message. If you are using the wrong IP, switch IP before you open.

Reason for caution: images inside the email can contain beacons (also known as web-bugs, clear gifs, and 1 pixel gifs). I have not seen flash embedded in any emails yet, but who's to say they won't start at any moment.

If you open an email from ebay and a message is displayed, you could be linked. Even though the mail itself sits on gmail, the embedded images are dynamic links and will load the data from ebay itself. This could allow ebay to read a cookie or set a cookie if no cookie exists. Also, your IP could get logged during the process of loading the images in the email. You may see an image - such as the Respond yellow button. You may not see an image - such as a clear gif or a blank gif spacer way down in the footer where you never look. Just because you don't see an image, doesn't mean an image is not there.

You won't know if you are safe or not until it is too late.

Suggestion would be to check all your gmail message lists from any login you like and from any IP you wish. Just -=*DON'T OPEN*=- any of the messages in the list unless you have MATCHING IP/Login.

If anyone is not clear about what I am saying, please ask in this thread or PM me before you make a mistake. If you see me on MSN or Yahoo Messenger, you can tag me there, too.

I just started listing yesterday on 7 month old, aged account with 5 buyers feedback and Gmail attached. The new account is on different window user, but on my main IP that I permanently changed from old suspended IP before opening this Ebay account 7 months ago (have cable connection). I am not a big fan of Gmail anyway,getting lost in it and having little hard time with it, but followed advise of the forum..So, just wanted to confirm.. Would it be really safe for me opening and reading Ebay emails -questions from buyers, in my main windows user without switching window users to do that? The IP is correct....Also, is safe just to open and read but not click on anything in the email? Seems like that's what VicVelcro says... just want to confirm. Thanks.

Lyda,

If you have the correct windows user and the correct IP, you can safely open the ebay stuff within gmail.

If you are in the wrong windows user or the wrong IP, DO NOT OPEN EBAY EMAIL. Even viewing one is not safe. It does not matter if you click anything inside or not. If you open it and see an image at all, it can track IP. It can read or leave a cookie.

Until the problem with image display is corrected, be very careful.

I'm still working on figuring out why and how this has happened. I will keep everyone posted. I have confirmed that several people are having this happen. Some people had it only happen one or a few times. Some people like me have had it happen a lot.

I am currently checking a suggestion made to me by NO ID. So far, it's holding up just fine. I'm going to keep watching for a bit, just to be sure. If it solves the problem, I'll write some decent instructions and post here.

Wow... Thanks.:thumb:

The thread is stickied as well. I'll keep it updated by date so noone gets
caught. Good Luck:cheer:

is disabling the adobe flash on firefox useful?

Well i just noticed that images are being displayed only on one of my gmail accounts and i have several.??

I'm still having the problem on all ebay related gmail in all accounts involved. I have turned images off, but they keep turning themselves back on for any mail from ebay. Even the emails that have already been read.

Sorry, the tip from NO ID didn't work as well as we had hoped. And I still can't figure out if the fault is with gmail or with ebay or if ebay conned gmail into playing ball.

I don't see how flash could be causing it, but I'll factor that into my analysis and see if it matters. I hope you're onto something with that idea. One thing I can say is that disabling flash can't hurt...

I can't figure this out either. It hasn't done it again to me so far, but I still have no idea why it happened. I have flash cookies enabled on all of my accounts and only one them decided to display images.

I am new to this forum, but I do have a gmail email account personally, and I noticed the same thing....the images being displayed without actually clicking the button to display them.....I dont use my gmail account for ebay nor paypal so it was probably just a problem with gmail that day. It only did it for me that one day. I thought it was weird, but didnt think much of it since it was just my own personal email.

I have not found an obvious cause. It is now only happening to 1/3 of my gmail accounts. It is only related to mail from ebay. It is never an email from anywhere else (happened with paypal 4 days ago but went away).

I doubt the problem is based on the client system or settings. But (possibly) pertinent info is listed below. If anybody else sees anything I should look into, speak up.

My system:
AMD ATHLON 64 +3000
4 Gig Ram
Via Gigabit Ethernet
Netgear wireless mangager (adapter rarely plugged in and not a factor, but driver runs always)
nVidia MX440 video
AC 97 Audio
Windows XP Pro 64bit SP2
Firefox 3.0.10
Plugins:(all are current updates)
flashblock (enabled and blocking all flash period)
adblock (enabled nuking everything on the US easylist)
objection (set for manual use)
noscript (enabled with custom settings)
Paypal Plug In (disabled not updated recently)
Reload Every (enabled but not active)
Scrapbook (enabled)
Speed Dial (enabled and customized)
Tamper Data (enabled but manual use only)
Xmarks (enabled)

I am currently booted up in Slax with absolutely nothing enabled. Live boot from USB with no changes permitted of any kind. No flash. No nothing. Did the same with BackTrack3 and Puppy and BSD.

Checked webmail and POP3 and IMAP for raw message codes or inconsistency.

Using a mail client, setting client options to never display external images - everything cool. Webmail - displaying images when it should not be doing so.

From this line forward, all observations apply to web-based mail in a browser, unless and except where and if otherwise noted.

Checked my gmail accounts again. All ebay messages showing images. Non-ebay messages are just like they should be - no images displayed.

New thing, though: For the ebay messages, I can't access the drop down for header details, image disable, or anything. The drop-down is GONE. Don't see it. Tried clicking where I know it should be. All other messages are unaffected. Images not seen. Drop-down just where it should be.

So, I need some ideas. All I can conclude is that ebay has made some deal with gmail to begin displaying images no matter what and that gmail is in the process of getting it implemented (explains why some of us get it more than others). Or by some slim coincidence... gmail is just glitching out.

I've sifted through raw email code. I've sifted through the entire page source for several open messages. This problem seems to be beyond my ken.

I'm not giving up on it, but I am losing confidence that it will be figured out. So, I'll repeat myself - ideas are more than welcome.

its only on certain emails you say? whats yellow button?

I usually only read buyers questions, is that affected?

My thing is that there cant be a deal between ebay and gmail, why, it would be against our agreement to defy our settings, whats in it for them, it looks sneaky and gmail dont have to act like that. I thought google and ebay were mortal enemies, anyway.

I think its a glitch somehow

All I can say velcro is you are a computer/internet whizz, most of what you say goes over my head, but you are a very very useful and welcome addition to the forum.

quote

once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary,
over many a strange and spurious site of 'hot xxx galore'.
While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning,
and my heart was filled with mourning,
mourning for my dear amour,
" 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, "give me back my free hardcore!"
quoth the server, 404."


^^^^^^^^is that you bastar*ization of 'the raven' ?!

For me, it was Paypal and eBay messages ONLY, on Friday. Saturday and since, it has only been eBay messages. Up until yesterday it was some eBay messages on some accounts, then on all accounts. Now it is all eBay messages on ~1/3 accounts. When I open eBay messages now, on affected accounts, the gmail page fuctions change noticably. Some controls are missing until I open messages from some other source.

Buyer questions are usually the ones with the Yellow Button. To the right of the message it will say "Respond" on a yellow button. The reply-to field will say "use-the-yellow-button@ebay.com" or something like that.

Those would be the ones to be quite concerned about. If you want to open any of them, I'd suggest getting into the proper windows login and making sure you have the appropriate IP.

Even if you haven't had the problem yet, I'd start being careful. It could begin to happen at any time to anybody. Look around. It's not just me. And the timing can't be predicted yet.

I just need a yes or no answer to this.

I have more than 1 ebay account. I have used outlook to reply to emails from both accounts without changing IP. Are these accounts now officially linked?

It depends.

If the reply-to goes back to ebay in any way, you are likely linked. If the reply-to goes back to the person's email address on a mail server like gmail or yahoo or hotmail, you're fine.

I should point out I haven't seen the pictures load in outlook (ie. reply to button or a pic of the item). The thing is when I click reply, they do load. I asked about that about 2 weeks ago and I think it was HWGA who replied and said he'd never been linked cause of this.

I've been doing that for over 2 months now. A big % of them go back through ebay. I was sure I'd seen people saying it was safe if using gmail.

It really will be a hassle to use a different login / IP for every email reply. Especially if you had many accounts.

Actually, it is not and has not been safe to reply using GMAIL, if the message header contents say the reply-to is <example@ebay.com>. Not the button. The contents of the header, usually hidden.

It is safe to READ from any IP using gmail, if images are disabled. But not to SEND.

Gmail does contain your IP. It's in there.

If the pics load when you are making your reply, you've probably been cookied.

In this regard, I believe you have been lucky so far.

For me, switching isn't such a hassle. I just do my windows login, set my IP, take care of ALL appropriate business, then repeat the process for all appropriate accounts. I don't switch back and forth really. Except when I am analyzing or troubleshooting, and most of that I do from my linux box anyhow.

If the reply-to in the header says a normal email address, it is safe to reply, as long as there are no images loading anywhere.

Personally, I never reply to a message having anything to do with ebay related subject matter. I cut and paste the original to a freshly created outgoing mail, type my response, and manually put the recipient's address in then hit send. I do that from gmail most of the time, but sometimes I use other mail accounts, but it's the same process.

I keep all my Ebay/Paypal accounts on separate user accounts on another computer where I use only AOL dial up. I guess I don't even have to worry than about pictures in my gmail ...Let them have it!:pop2: