Gmail "Image Proxy", "Gmail Proxy" or Mountain View Results

Why do I see "Image Proxy", "Gmail Proxy" or "Mountain View, CA" results in my email notifications or when I view the details of an Open? 

 

 Open Details in your Bananatag account.

 

This is due to the way that the Gmail.com and the Gmail mail app handles image downloads (which are used for open-tracking).

 

 

Open Details in a notification email.

 

When Gmail stopped blocking the automatic download of images they also put in place a proxy to obscure the end-user and provide a layer of anonymity. This means that when you open an email within Gmail on the desktop, or the Gmail mail app, your details will be recorded as a Linux-based Google Proxy in California since that is the device being used to download the images for you.