# Bcc's visible in message? using actionmailer and smtp

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/bccs-visible-in-message-using-actionmailer-and-smtp/83547>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [January 27, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/bccs-visible-in-message-using-actionmailer-and-smtp/83547 "2007-01-27T02:35:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/bccs-visible-in-message-using-actionmailer-and-smtp/83547/1 "2007-01-27T02:35:38Z")

</div>

Hey everyone,

I’m not highly skilled in email processing.

I noticed that bcc email address are actually visible in the body of an  
email message.

Here is a portion of the source of the message. I’ve tried to obfuscate  
parts to protect privacy. If I need to provide more so that you can  
diagnose this problem, please let me know. I’ve changed the domain to  
[exampledomain.com](http://exampledomain.com).

Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=localhost.localdomain)  
by [beta.eblock.net](http://beta.eblock.net) with esmtp (Exim 4.63)  
(envelope-from [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid))  
id 1H9IdS-0007W7-Ik; Tue, 23 Jan 2007 02:12:14 -0800  
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 02:12:14 -0800  
From: “Mr. Example” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
Message-Id:  
[removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
Subject: What’s New Today  
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8  
Apparently-To: [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
Apparently-To: [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)

Note the “Apparently-To” lines. These addresses were provided to the  
mailer as bcc’s.

def notification(mh\_data, oec\_data, ocn\_data, addresses, sender,  
sent\_at = Time.now)  
subject ‘What's New Today’  
body :mh\_data=\>mh\_data, :oec\_data=\>oec\_data,  
:ocn\_data=\>ocn\_data  
bcc addresses  
from sender  
sent\_on sent\_at  
content\_type “text/html”  
end

Is there a way to hide the bcc addresses?

Thanks,

-Kelly

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 6:35am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/bccs-visible-in-message-using-actionmailer-and-smtp/83547/2 "2007-01-27T06:35:53Z")

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On Jan 23, 2:40 pm, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid wrote:

> I noticed that bcc email address are actually visible in the body of an  
> email message.  
> [snip]  
> from sender  
> sent\_on sent\_at  
> content\_type “text/html”  
> end
> 
> Is there a way to hide the bcc addresses?

You need to provide at least a “to” otherwise it will expose the bcc’s.  
Often people will use their own “no-reply” address as both the from  
and the to, when you need to hide the bccs.

Eric

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/bccs-visible-in-message-using-actionmailer-and-smtp/83547/3 "2007-01-31T19:14:51Z")

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Thanks very much. That solved the problem.

-Kelly