Access Email Header From Within HTML

[Dennis Marks]

I just want to know if this is possible. Can someone create a javascript
within the HTML of an email that will send email header information,
such as from, to, cc, subject, etc., back to a web site for collection?
This would probably be through an image request since actually sending
an email back would require user approval.

I'm asking because I received an email that requested that you forward
it to 7 people and you would receive a funny video in return. I believe
that somewhere along the way the body was cut and pasted therefore
losing the original HTML. Could this be used as a way to collect email
addresses or is it impossible?

--
Dennis M. Marks

Disclaimer: The above is my opinion. I do not guarantee it. Be sure to
back up any files involved and use at your own risk. Batteries not
included. Not for internal use. Don't run with knives.

 

[Richard Cornford]

I just want to know if this is possible. Can someone
create a javascript within the HTML of an email that will
send email header information, such as from, to, cc, subject,
etc., back to a web site for collection?

The answer is no. For a start it would be suicidal for any e-mail client
to be configured to execute javascript included in an HTML e-mail (every
spammer in the world would try it on).

This would probably be through an image request since
actually sending an email back would require user approval.

I'm asking because I received an email that requested that
you forward it to 7 people and you would receive a funny
video in return.

That is a type of virus. Instead of attacking the computer system it
attacks the psychology of the reader, the more vulnerable (read;
gullible/stupid) reproduce the virus and propagate it.

I believe that somewhere along the way the body was cut
and pasted therefore losing the original HTML. Could this
be used as a way to collect email addresses or is it
impossible?

The virus you are describing is more a scatter-gun denial (or, more
likely, restriction) of service attack.

Letting HTML e-mails download images from the Internet is one way of
letting spammers know that an e-mail address that they have targeted is
being read by someone (making the address a more valuable/sailable
commodity, and guaranteeing the recipient a barrage of additional spam).
That is why many e-mail clients will not show images in HTML e-mail by
default.

Richard.