SpyPig: Another Service to Spy On Whether Someone Read the Email You Sent Them   - 3,036 Views, 3 Comments

Even though we’ve heard hardly a peep about email tracking software service Did They Read It since they first burst on the scene more than four years ago, another email read tracking service has bellied up to the email tracking trough in the form of SpyPig.

Says SpyPig of their SpyPig service, “Now you can find out when your email has been read by the recipient! No more guessing: “Has he or she read my email yet?” SpyPig is a simple email tracking system that sends you a notification email as soon as the recipient opens and reads your message. It works with virtually all modern email programs: Outlook, Eudora, Yahoo Email, Gmail, Hotmail, AOL Email and many others.”

Of course, what they really mean is “it works with virtually all email programs that will render an image” because what SpyPig does, like any email open tracker, is to track the opening of the email by having the reader’s email client render an image. In many cases it’s an essentially invisible 1×1 pixel image, but in the case of SpyPig, they offer images to embed in your email that amount to a visible graphic “gotcha”. They offer two different cute piggy faces, a third piggy face with the name “SpyPig”, and a graphic that consists entirely of the words “I Know You’ve Read My Email” (creepy!) Oh, and they do also offer the blank 1×1 pixel.

Unlike Did They Read It, which is fee-based (although it does have a free version which is limited to up to 10 message), SpyPig is currently completely free. But to use it you have to go through their web interface, giving up both your recipient’s and your own email address.

What do you think of this sort of service? Would you use it? How would you feel if you found out that someone was using it with the email that they sent you? (To read what we think of if - as if you couldn’t guess - read our take on the subject in our article on the Did They Read It service.)