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Why I’m an E-mail Luddite
Posted by Bob Jonkman on 2nd October 2013
Luddite Memorial, Liversedge
Him: Bob, have a look at this video: LOLcats at work
Me: Did you intend to send a link with that?
Him: Yes, here it is: LOLcats at work
Me: Sorry, still no link. Remember, I don’t receive HTML e-mail…
Him: Wut? I’ve never heard of someone not receiving HTML e-mail!
E-mail was never designed for HTML; it is intended to be a plain-text medium. HTML is merely cobbled on, and mail clients have no standard way to render HTML messages, resulting in different displays on different mail programs. Some mail programs, especially those run from the command line, can’t show HTML rendered messages at all.
Although I use a graphical mail client (Thunderbird), I choose to not display HTML for two reasons:
1) Security: HTML mail can have Javascript code or other objects embedded. That’s a great way to get virus infections on your computer. I don’t want any code running on my computer that I didn’t put there myself.
2) Privacy: HTML mail that links to external images allows the owner of those images to track your mail usage: When you open the mail, how often you open it, the location you open it at, what computer you’re using, and whether you forward it to others (and then, when they open the mail, how often, their location, &c).
Not to mention that HTML messages are far bigger than text messages, especially when the HTML contains embedded images, fonts, and other stuff. Now, that’s not such a big deal with fast connections, unlimited download caps, and cheap disk drives, but it will still make a difference on small-format devices like phones and watches.
That said, if you do send me HTML e-mail, be sure to embed any images or LOLcat videos. That way I can still view them as static attachments, without revealing when, where, and how often I view them.
For more info have a look at the Wikipedia article on HTML e-mail
–Bob.
You can send HTML e-mail to Bob Jonkman at bjonkman@sobac.com
The Luddite Memorial, Liversedge by Tim Green is used under a 
Creative Commons — Attribution 2.0 Generic — CC BY 2.0 license.
Tags: attachment, bandwidth, cap, code, e-mail, email, expectation, HTML, image, Javascript, link, LOLcats, Luddite, plain-text, privacy, security, Thunderbird, video, virus
Posted in email, privacy, security | 1 Comment »