As a shareholder, this is disappointing to read.
Kindle collects a surprisingly large amount of data
81–90 of 393 posts
Re: Kindle collects a surprisingly large amount of data
#82As a former Kindle developer, I can say that most of what's mentioned in this article are metrics used to understand how the features are used (bookmarks, highlights, dictionnary, etc.), how much they are used, and in which country. This allows the teams to focus on features that are actively used, and sometimes lead to discontinuing features that see little to no use. Hope that helps.
Yeah I came here to say the same. I'm about as tin-foil-paranoid-privacy-all-the-things as they come, but the "invasive" data mentioned in the post don't seem particularly invasive to me, and collecting that data seems perfectly appropriate for the purposes you mentioned. With all that said, I do dream of a PINE64 E Ink device (or something that's open and hackable).
Remarkable is open and hackable.
Re: Kindle collects a surprisingly large amount of data
#83It would be quite interesting to know how this data is actually used on Amazon's servers. It reminds me of the criticisms of government data collection programs, that they just hoover up every bit of data that's available without actually knowing what to do with it. Suppose you train some AI to predict what pages in a book will be most engaging to the reader. Since your interface to the book is still just going to be something where people can turn the pages what are you actually going to do with that information? It's a massive sacrifice of the privacy of the user for small gains at best in getting insight into the user's behavior. I wouldn't be surprised if this information is sitting in a database somewhere at Amazon completely unused.
The philosophy of Amazon appears to be to do as much as possible in the hopes that one day it will be useful. This is at odds with the principle of philosophical skepticism, that because we can't be sure of the consequences of our actions we should strive to do as little as possible. The data could be hacked and leak out, for example. There is tremendous uncertainty around things like that.
Re: Kindle collects a surprisingly large amount of data
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
For this I recommend Calibre: https://calibre-ebook.com/ It will convert any format of E-Book to a compatible format for the Kindle (usually MOBI) and allows you to upload it directly. I use it often and it's an amazing piece of software!
I actually prefer KindleGen[0] to convert EPUB to MOBI - I find it produces a superior e-book. Edit: Oh no, Amazon removed KindleGen! When did that happen? I still have x86 copies for Linux and windows if anyone wants it. Supposedly "Kindle Previewer" can do the same thing, but a cursory glance looks like it no longer supports Linux... [0] https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000765...
> Edit: Oh no, Amazon removed KindleGen! When did that happen?
We know where this is going, don't we? Offering interoperability in the beginning and then gradually taking it away - the old bait and switch trick. We consumers fall for it again and again.
Re: Kindle collects a surprisingly large amount of data
#85This is only one reason why I absolutely love my Kobo Aura HD, it's never been connected to WiFi. Its storage device is a standard SD card which can be swapped for a larger one. Oh, and it's not giving money to Amazon which is always a big win for me. It also happens to be a super nice piece of kit, and it has my warmest recommendations.
My kindle is in airplane mode since I opened its box and I send books to it via usb. No one is forcing you to use amazon services, I didn't even pay for the ad free version but I've never seen an ad.
I've actually found it quite challenging to purchase books to put on my Kindle that aren't from Amazon, since they use a proprietary format.
Re: Kindle collects a surprisingly large amount of data
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
How does it make a difference? First, if an entity want my input and are going to use it, they should be decent enough to pay me for giving it. Why do users need to work for free for Amazon? Second, is it opt-in? If not, then there's an ethical issue here, even if a manual opt-out option is given (does it?). If there's no opt-out, there's a double ethical issue. Thirdly, is this data deleted once it's being used for…
You don't. You have 100% freedom to not work for Amazon. Don't buy a kindle. Don't use a kindle.
If I would have known that by buying Kindle I end up working for Amazon, I indeed wouldn't have bought one.
It's deception. Please put on the box a big warning, "THIS DEVICE COLLECTS YOUR DATA", similar to those on cigarette boxes.
Re: Kindle collects a surprisingly large amount of data
#87I have quite often seen people here and on other tech forums assume that purchasing a Kindle means being locked into Amazon's ecosystem, giving up personal details, and having the risk that your books might be deleted. But you don't have to use the Kindle's internet connectivity: I have owned three generations of Kindle, and with each one I activated airplane mode the second I unboxed the device and I never turned ai…
Why buy a kindle at all then?
Any cheap budget tablet can read ebooks and stay off the internet.
Re: Kindle collects a surprisingly large amount of data
#88Would love to replace my Kindle with another device. Any recommendations? - Also, I appreciate a local file on the Kindle that logs all my highlights (this file is called `My Clippings.txt‘. I parse that file and have a wonderful summary of the books I read. Any other ebook reader that creates a file like that?
Re: Kindle collects a surprisingly large amount of data
#89I had a funny situation with kindle. It was connecting to the internet all the time, I enabled airplane mode and then it started complaining about it all the time.
Out of spite I added password to my wifi (I didn't have any and I even named my hotspot smth like "free" for my neighbors to use, wouldn't do that now).
To my surprise, some ~8months later I discovered my kindle to happily connect to my wifi. I'm pretty sure I would never enter the password there, because the kindle was the reason I added password to begin with. Maybe there is some more sane explanation than "kindle bruteforced my wifi", like a bug or some nuance in authorization protocol?
edit: it happened 7 years ago with kindle 2013 paperwhite.
Re: Kindle collects a surprisingly large amount of data
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
My kindle is in airplane mode since I opened its box and I send books to it via usb. No one is forcing you to use amazon services, I didn't even pay for the ad free version but I've never seen an ad.
I've actually found it quite challenging to purchase books to put on my Kindle that aren't from Amazon, since they use a proprietary format.
> I've actually found it quite challenging to purchase books to put on my Kindle that aren't from Amazon, since they use a proprietary format.
While MOBI began as one's company's proprietary solution, the format is well over a decade old now and quite well understood by the Free Software community. Calibre can convert EPUB (or anything else, really) to MOBI, so you can buy or pirate your ebooks from anywhere and easily put them on a Kindle.