Email, the web’s much maligned little cousin, is in the midst of a revolution—one that will change not only how designers and developers build HTML email campaigns, but also the way in which subscribers interact with those campaigns.
The article goes into some geeky detail, but one point is critically missing there.
In a word, security.
Based upon my admittedly cursory glance through the article, email basically needs a “revolution” to become a web page that comes to you (with animations and buttons and all sorts of ‘neat stuff’).
Computer security is way too often lackluster, so usually left in the realm of the uncool buzzkills.
Of course, being hacked is also uncool, so computer security should have a seat at the genuine ‘cool kids’ table.
Ah, the complications of coolness.
The real evolution of email requires authentication.
Anyone can easily send an email that comes from someone else (just change the ‘from’ email address). A hacker can put an inviting link in that email, so upon using that link, an attack occurs. If the computer is not properly secured, that attack basically means the computer is completely overtaken by the hacker (perhaps without the user’s knowledge due to a surreptitious approach).
With proper (including convenient) authentication, that would no longer be possible, but achieving such authentication is no easy task, because of the separation of computer and human being.
Computers cannot keep secrets. Reverse engineering a computer reveals everything, because ambiguity is unacceptable in computerization these days.
It is impossible to eliminate the threat of uninvited emails disguised as the contrary, so while plain text email may seem drab, it keeps your computer (so you) safe.
Still, the largely ignored technological invasion against righteous privacy continues to march onwards, so expect brilliantly eye-catching emails that seem legitimate, but run “revolutionary” code capable of exploiting whatever vulnerability that you may not have patched yet.
I suppose that we all should abandon putting locks on our doors, because the attackers/”businessfolks” (capable of leveraging information about our private lives potentially to our serious detriment — in part thanks to the many cameras and microphones possibly continuously sending data even when “off”) is already on the inside of our homes at our invitation due to marketing psychology (e.g. you need to be bombarded by a selfish privacy invasion –um, I mean, you need convenient access to product/service information that puts you in charge).
Prompting article: The Coming Revolution in Email Design
I am an honest freak (or reasonably responsibly balanced "misfit", if you prefer) of an artist working and resting to best carefully contribute towards helping society. Too many people abuse reasoning (e.g. 'partial truth = whole truth' scam), while I exercise reason to explore and express whole truth without any conflict-of-interest -- all within a sometimes offbeat style of psychedelic artistry.
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