Google Blogoscoped


Not respond to read receipt request

Robert Wein [PersonRank 1]

Friday, March 6, 2009
6 years ago6,706 views

Hi Everybody

I have searched and seen many entries where people want GMail to attach a read receipt request to an email.

I was wondering if I can do something in GMail to not RESPOND to a read receipt request. By that, I mean do not automatically reply back to the sender that I have read an email. Can't find any entry anywhere. Any ideas?


Robert Wein

Ianf [PersonRank 10]

6 years ago #

I've been in this "game" for over 20 years, and this is the first I hear about ALLEGEDLY AUTOMATIC read receipts. Where exactly in the RFC 822 (ARPA Internet text messages format) does it say so?

(and, while I'm at it, when you claim to have seen "many entries where people want GMail to attach a read receipt request," how about supplying some search urls to the effect?)

Roger Browne [PersonRank 10]

6 years ago #

The "Return-Receipt-To" and "Read-Receipt-To" headers are not in RFC 822 or its later versions, but they are widely implemented and have been supported by Sendmail since version 8.7.

You can attach Read-Receipt requests to mail that you send through Gmail, provided you compose the mail on your desktop using a suitable email client, then dispatch it to the internet through Gmail's SMTP server.

The following knol is quite specific in stating that Gmail doesn't respond to read receipt requests: ...
A post by phekylmadder in the following forum discussion claims that he tested Gmail and found that it did not respond to read receipt requests (the Read-Receipt-To header) but that it did respond to the Return-Receipt-To header which I assume means the email has been delivered to your Gmail inbox but doesn't say anything about whether or not you've had a chance to read it. ...

Ianf [PersonRank 10]

6 years ago #

How is this Gmail's receipt of delivery different (and ?important?) from the default behaviour of all SENDMAIL versions, where, if a msg couldn't be delivered into a mailbox for some reasons, either the outgoing or end-node server will automagically issue a warning? Otherwise, NO RESPONSE = implicit CONFIRMATION OF DELIVERY.

phekylmadder: » [...] gmail responded to the "delivered" option but did not respond to the "viewed" option. « ...

[Robert Wein: Gmail will NOT send out any receipts of read matter on its own. The most it will "do" is "nothing," which is an indirect admission to the sending party that it indeed has received and delivered the msg to the target mailbox. If that's more than you can stomach, there are other, though largely non-electronic, modes of communication with higher explicit deniability of delivery than email. If you stick with email, your other *practical* option is pseudo-rejection-autophishing, ie. bouncing selected messages back to sender prepended by suitable faked headers claiming non-delivery due to mailbox overflow, etc. If done skillfully and within near-instantaneous time response window, perhaps the recipient will "buy it."]

Robert Wein [PersonRank 1]

6 years ago #

I don't know the rfc's or anything. What I know is that I received an email in my gmail and later the sender commented on when I read it. I looked in my sent items and there was an email there that had subject "Read: Info for you". I did not send it and it was a respponse to a read receipt request attached to the original email.

I do not want to send those.


KMB [PersonRank 7]

6 years ago #

God to have some privacy and that Google is following RFC standards.

Ianf [PersonRank 10]

6 years ago #

[put at-character here]Robert Wein: whatever you may think, Gmail (the email client) did *not* sent that read-receipt on its own, you pressed the dispatch button whether it now pleases you to admit that to yourself or not.

M@ndZ [PersonRank 0]

6 years ago #

Hi, I also have a friend who always wants to phone me when she sees I'm awake... and she does this when she sees me open her emails in my gmail (which is thru my Microsoft Outlook with IMAP settings – and I DO have my Outlook settings set to 'never send a response')... so I do not know how this particular friend constantly knows as soon as I open her email!! CLEARLY Gmail is sending read-receipts to senders... so I'm not sure why you, Ianf, have to be so rude to Robert and infer he doesnt want to 'admit' to himself or not that he pressed the 'dispatch button' ....
I would also like to know HOW does someone get a read receipt confirmation when I read their email even though I've set my settings onto NEVER SEND A RESPONSE..... try be polite when you reply hmmmm ;)


Forum home



