[hermes]

Before I review the e-reader itself...

I have not read any reviews that rate the privacy and international use aspects of e-readers. For me, the first is useful, the second a requirement that I can't compromise much on as my work and hobbies take me all over the developing world.

PRIVATE? Rather than submit to censorship I prefer to have my gear set up so the varying laws around the world are irrelevent. I read a lot of controversial books while travelling the third world. I don't want border guards in Yemen snooping in my collection and discovering that I have Salaman Rushdie's 'The Satanic Verses' (fatwa frenzy), Canada discovering cartoons from Denmark (believe it or not satirical cartoons are considered 'hate literature'!), Australia prudes discovering I have Bill Henson jpgs (simple child nudes as 'child porn'), USA goons discovering I have books on how to grow opium, etc, or whatever the flavour of the month of political correctness is in Democratic Republic of Congo or UK. These are all just fictional examples of more eyebrow-raising examples of textual and visual material, and as much as I'd like to say, 'who cares?' unfortunately some people and organizations with very big guns, a lot of money and religious 'idealism' don't necessarily agree that I should be able to carry any images and words that in themselves are harmless.

The only way I know to avoid this is to have no connections to my real name or debit/credit cards linked to me for hardware or books themselves, and/or perhaps some sort of encryption or simple file/folder chicanery. James Bond is not my style, but neither is prison.

The problem with at least the 'anonymous' gift cards I have picked up is that US sellers (and perhaps others?) refuse to send an order unless it is registered, i.e. linked to a name and an address. I suppose I could be John Doe at 1234 Main Street in Anytown, Iowa. But this means one has to behave like a criminal and make sure no actual postal deliveries are charged on the actual card (since presumably all this info is retained somewhere). And frankly, I just resent having to do this in the first place. I didn't have to in 1975, why should I do so now? And don't online sellers have ways of determining, maybe even automatically that the ISP of an orderer who lists his address in Antarctica is currently in Colombia?

The very least I expect from an e-reader is the ownership of the device cannot be linked to me and my choice of books likewise is private - which is why I actually prefer traditional books. If one buys and stores Czech art photographer editions or atheist tomes discreetly perhaps one can avoid busybodies with batons asking 'are you a child-molestin' satanist?' No one is the wiser if purchased in cash at bookstores with no cameras. This is my biggest challenge with e-books - how to avoid Big Brother in my reading habits. I prefer to be safe than sorry.

Actually, 99% of my books are so tame no public library would feel embarrassed to have them on display. But not every country has same the attitudes. Malaysia doesn't. France doesn't. Heck, who does anymore? Did they ever?

Others will talk all about identity theft, and yeah, that's another factor. Sony wants me to register and buy stuff from a site where Playstation lost a few million people's credit card info - no thank you! But I make no bones about it - my objection is political and practical, I'm not concerned about commercial thieves as I am of state ones. I just don't trust governments, and it seems that corporations are awfully cozy with Patriot (hah!) Act entities of the John Wayne order. I actually trust national governments more than big business because at least they sort of obey their own laws, whereas the biggest companies are much more socially conservative in their policies than law requires.

The Americans SAY they have freedom of reading but I just don't believe that 5 or 10 years down the road all our personal data won't be used against us, wherever we live. it's not that Pakistani or Irish governments might not want to do the same, but its the sheer power and cowboy/puritan attitude of the US that has me concerned.

This preamble to my review of my first e-reader is as much about staying out of corporate and state databases as the device's library value. I picked up an e-reader, paid cash and no one asked me to identify myself contrary to reading that the trend in the west is to ask all sorts of personal (marketing purposes?) information when one purchases electronics. I didn't buy the extra guarantees and doo-dads. I just wanted to get started, confidentially and portably.

Turns out Sony only sells to USA and Canada. Well I spend more time in China and Ethiopia than either of those places. Does this mean I have to buy prepaid gift cards?

In short, what are the logistics and strategies of remaining an invisible rootless cosmopolitan in the modern world of digital reading? Other than not posting inane rants like this of course. And is it even worth all the effort?

Next - does the damn thing work?