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Worried about email tracking
 

I was accessing a friends account to list an item and i needed to provide a phone pin or answer a secret question. Owner forgot the secret question and the phone pin was not available because the owner only had a lan line phone set up for the pin and was no longer living at the house. I attempted to answer the secret question with what he was telling me but it did not work. After 3 attempts i ran out of attempts and the only way i could access it was to talk to a live chat agent and provide them with some details.

I provided all the details perfectly as i had the owner right there providing me all the answers over msn. Then i was told i needed to check an email to get a pin number and then relay it back to the live chat agent. Just as my friend was about to open the email in his account this idea suddenly hit me! What if ebay was tracking my comp identity through the firefox browser and chat window i was useing? When my friend opened the email from his computer it would of sent them a totally different computer identity right? Ebay would of been suspect as correct?

Dont worry, they just use email to verify that you have access to this provider. It happens many times, no problem.

Are you sure tho? I read some where els that they have lil imbeded programs that send them data every time you open there email. Now proof of ownership of the account im sure there would be an alarm go off if the email was opened from a complete different computer then the one i was chatting to them on!

might need to hear from the VICster on this one...I believe its safe though if you dont have the show pics on the email showing.

as long as the email opens without showing pictures. Once it shows the pictures they can track your IP. Gmail is best b/c you can open emails and read them and you have to go and click show pictures..

Even if you did, I wouldnt worry too much. Takes a few different things to trigger someone to take a closer look at your accounts

What if ebay was tracking my comp identity through the firefox browser and chat window i was useing?

They do this.

When my friend opened the email from his computer it would of sent them a totally different computer identity right? Ebay would of been suspect as correct?

No, not correct, it's not that involved. You're safe.

To avoid being tracked in email by the web bugs, beacons, clear.gif's, etc...

Best to use Gmail. Disable image display BEFORE you open any emails. Do not send email to ebay, paypal, or amazon from the wrong computer or IP address.

Other than that, you should be just fine.