One of the million and one things I DO NOT understand about computer protocol...

ExplainitomelikeIm2yrsold wrote: "...but I still find it all incredibly confusing. That's why I want it explained to me like I'm a two-year old."

Okay, little buddy, let’s talk about emails! ...When you get an email, sometimes it has special pictures or things inside it. If you open the email, the person who sent it can see some things about you, like when you looked at it or if you shared it with someone else.

But guess what? ...There’s a way to keep your secrets safe! It’s called "Protect Mail Activity." This helps make sure that the person who sent the email can’t see what you’re doing. So, when you get an email, it can show those special pictures without anyone knowing what you did. It’s like a magic shield that keeps your information private! Isn’t that cool?

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• Are you using a VPN?

If so, it is blocking the content from loading automatically.

• Another reason that may occur is due to the Privacy setting in the Mail app. Go to Mail > Settings > Privacy > Protect Mail Activity. When you shut it off, uncheck the option to Block All Remote Content.

Use Mail Privacy Protection on Mac - Apple Support

Somewhat shorter version of what steve626 stated:

When you download an email, any attachments or images have to be retrieved from the sender's server. Why this doesn't apply to the text, I don't know.

But anyway, when those attachments or images are retrieved, the IP address, or other identifying info of the recipient is picked up by the server where those items were stored. From that, they then have enough information to send you more junk, and share your contact information with others you not want to get any emails from.

A favorite trick is the "tracking pixel". Which is nothing more than another image file, except it's literally only one pixel in size, and takes much less time to download than the text so you don't notice it. Typically it's white so it can be hidden anywhere in the email body against the plain white background.

That's why the default of just about any modern email client is to not download any images until you tell it to.

ExplainitomelikeIm2yrsold wrote:

Thank you...but I still find it all incredibly confusing. That's why I want it explained to me like I'm a two-year old.

The newsletter provider likely wants to track you and your specific activities and interests, quite possibly for the insurer’s own reasons, or maybe for re-sale to their advertisers, or maybe both.

It’s also possible that the newsletter provider has issues around maintaining newsletter and website security and privacy, of course.

Apple is working to block the sorts of tracking and privacy issues that can arise, and in this case cannot block the tracking. Or cannot bypass the problematic configuration. Hence the warning.

It's not as complicated you might think. Apple documents this in Legal - Mail Privacy Protection & Privacy- Apple .

Basically, some email reveals information about you and your system to the sender when you download the entire email and its contents, unless certain content is held back. That is what those notifications are telling you; you can download that content (which often has images, for instance) by clicking that button.

"Emails you receive may include remote content that allows the email’s sender to learn information about you. When you open an email, information about your Mail activity can be collected by the sender without transparency and an ability to control what information is shared. Email senders may learn when and how many times you opened their email, whether you forwarded the email, your Internet Protocol (IP) address, and other data that can be used to build a profile of your behavior and learn your location. Protect Mail Activity helps protect your privacy by preventing email senders, including Apple, from learning information about your Mail activity. When you receive an email in the Mail app or Mail on iCloud.com rather than only downloading remote content when you open an email, Protect Mail Activity downloads remote content in the background by default — regardless of whether you engage with the email. Apple does not learn any information about third-party Mail content."