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TrackingCompliant

Transparency & consent

Understand and control the tracking inside your email.

Marketing emails often carry invisible tracking pixels and rewritten links. TrackingCompliant explains what they do, shows you how to spot them, and lets you withdraw your consent in a single click — as easily as it was given.

Operated by the sender for transparency — not a neutral third party. We say so plainly.

  • Open-tracking pixels
  • Rewritten click links
  • Consent & withdrawal
  • Aligned with CNIL 2026

Three ways in

Whether you received an email and want out, or you just want to learn how tracking works — start here.

How it works

What a tracking pixel actually is

A tracking pixel is a tiny, usually invisible image embedded in an email. When your mail client loads it from the sender’s server, that request reveals that the message was opened.

newsletter.html
<p>Thanks for reading!</p>

<!-- open-tracking pixel -->
<img
  src="https://track.example.com
       /o/a8f3e1c9b2.gif"
  width="1" height="1"
  style="display:none"
  alt="" />
A typical open-tracking pixel — 1×1, hidden, unique ID per recipient.
  1. 1

    The email arrives

    The HTML contains an <img> tag pointing at a remote server, often 1×1 pixel and transparent, with a unique identifier in the URL.

  2. 2

    Your client loads the image

    To render the message, your mail app requests that image. The request carries the unique ID, your IP address and your client details.

  3. 3

    The open is recorded

    The sender logs that your specific address opened the email, when, and roughly from where. Rewritten links do the same for every click.

Under the CNIL’s 2026 recommendation, inserting such pixels generally requires prior consent — with narrow exemptions for security and strictly-scoped deliverability measurement. You can withdraw consent at any time, and it must take effect even for emails already sent.

Read: exempt vs. consent-based pixels