Anyone who is concerned about security and tracking will leave images blocked by default, but most average people will turn image blocking off so that they can see the pictures in whatever trashy chain email is making the rounds.
The don't realize that this allows spammers to track whether or not the email address is live, they just think that it saves them from having to click "Show All Images".
I would suspect people to be far more liberal with the "Always display images in emails from ..." if they know the sender personally. But still an important objection, since it obviously breaks the process...
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Don't most email clients (both web and desktop based) block images loading by default to specifically stop this kind of tracking ?
I recall spammers using precisely this technique with early html supporting email clients in the late '90s to validate email accounts.
Anyone who is concerned about security and tracking will leave images blocked by default, but most average people will turn image blocking off so that they can see the pictures in whatever trashy chain email is making the rounds.
The don't realize that this allows spammers to track whether or not the email address is live, they just think that it saves them from having to click "Show All Images".
I would suspect people to be far more liberal with the "Always display images in emails from ..." if they know the sender personally. But still an important objection, since it obviously breaks the process...