Ok, while the title may be silly, it's true. Stick with a fuse.
http://www.dailymail...rivacy-concerns.htmlApparently Facebook and Google "click" (follow) links in people's emails. Aside from the privacy implications, it can screw up your "stuff", especially if you buy something online, then get a "one time use" link. (Yes - they do exist, though much less now than in the past from what I've seen.) Other things are voting, unsubscribing from newsletters, etc. etc.
They cite the reason as security. (Heard that before?) Phishing, malware, etc. etc. Now, to a degree, that's also certainly true.
Not an easy one to balance, though I'd come down on the "no clicking" side. I guess I just figure that if you're greedy enough to want that 10 million dollars from Prince Whuddeva in Nairobi, well... Should we call it Internet Darwinism?
Anyways... a taste of the article:
Test 'reveals Facebook, Twitter and Google snoop on emails': Study of net giants spurs new privacy concerns
- Study set out to test confidentiality of 50 of the biggest Internet companies
- Researchers sent unique web address in private messages through firms
- They found six of the companies opened the link from the message