If you have ever been interested in whether emails contain tracking pixels, I made a couple of free utilities in Python to check.
IMAP Email Downloading: This tool allows users to download emails from their server using the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP). It’s useful for creating offline backups or archiving.
Tracking Pixel Scanning: The second tool, Tracking Pixel Scanning, addresses privacy in email communications. It attempts to detect tracking pixels – small hidden images in emails used often for analytics purposes. While these pixels are useful for senders in tracking engagement, they raise privacy concerns for recipients. This software scans and flags such tracking attempts, letting you see who might be monitoring your email activity. It only scans local copies of downloaded email folders, hence the need for the downloading script, above.
History: It was rumoured amongst Deputies that their governmental emails were being tracked by the Guernsey Government email server but using tracking image cookies. After making this tool, I can say that I found no evidence of this when I scanned my emails, except for a couple from the tax office; but I’m not a Deputy so I have no idea whether theirs are.
You may find the source code on github: https://github.com/JBDAC/Email-Tracking-Scan
