HowTo Fake-register your Paperwhite 5.2.x to use collections and other blocked features

[Jesse83]

Originally Posted by knc1

You can prevent any data mining or other analytics of your device usage without blocking registration.

You can prevent having updates forced on you without blocking registration.

If the device has been reported stolen to Amazon, Amazon has already blocked the device registration.

so I don't understand what does people get out of not registering

what is it that is being data mined etc, and how do you block it & how do you block updates ?

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by Jesse83

so I don't understand what does people get out of not registering

what is it that is being data mined etc, and how do you block it & how do you block updates ?

Not all countries offer kindles, so people with the hardware in an unsupported country cannot register. Also some people have got blacklisted kindles, so cannot register them.

[ixtab]

Originally Posted by Jesse83

so I don't understand what does people get out of not registering

what is it that is being data mined etc, and how do you block it & how do you block updates ?

Concerning what is data mined: every single time a Paperwhite is connected via Wifi, the first thing that Amazon requests is "send me all your log files". (Well, at least that's what's happening on mine, and no, I'm not kidding.) The log files are pretty much as personal as it can get, because they contain a ridiculous amount of information about what you're doing, when you're doing it, what you're reading etc. They could just as well ask you about the color of your underwear.

Concerning how to block it: you could block communications with Amazon altogether via iptables. You could delete (or rename) the relevant program files responsible for the most privacy-invading parts (e.g. showlog), or for ota updates (ota(?)), etc.

But of course, if you have the official "fuck you" edition of the Paperwhite (a.k.a. 5.3.0), then you can do nothing at all about it. Except for keeping it in airplane mode (and even in AIRPLANE mode, my PW mysteriously keeps setting itself to the correct time, even if I keep setting it to something wrong - so it must still be communicating with something, so that doesn't seem a 100% working advice).

Ah well, yeah, you could deregister it, but I'm not entirely sure about that. It will still be phoning home, but I don't know how much personal info it will send.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

Also some people have got blacklisted kindles, so cannot register them.

If it is blacklisted by Amazon, it was probably reported as stolen.
We can't (and will not) do much about making it un-stolen.

[Hellmark]

Never said we would. Just saying that is one potential reason why a person would be interested in a registration fake out

[ghudod]

Not to revive an old thread, But there are legitimate, honest reasons to modify a Kindle in such a fashion.

Used Kindles are showing up in pawn shops, police auctions, salvage resale lots from wholesalers and other non-retail origins. These devices may or may not be blacklisted, but one thing is clear- Amazon wants nothing to do with them when they've been reported as lost or stolen. I deal with pallettes full of customer returned/salvage/used IT equipment and multiple times, I have contacted Amazon directly to perhaps reunite a blacklisted Kindle with its rightful owner. Amazon a) will not accept devices back and b) will not release any information about previous owners.

The advice given to me repeatedly was to return it to where it was purchased for a refund if possible. If not possible, it could be used as a web browser or an eReader for free content... their advice, not mine.

As far as the idea that thieves are rampantly jailbreaking, SSHing into and modifying blacklisted Kindles to resell... I've not heard or seen any evidence online to support this, and it's a lot of effort to go through for very little gain. Sure, you have the Craigslist buyers that fail to see if a blank, unmodified device can be registered before they hand their $100 to some guy in a parking lot, but that has nothing to do with system modification and more with Caveat Emptor.

In short, not everyone that ends up with a blacklisted Kindle has nefarious intentions... and thank you guys for providing this information to turn a Paperweight into a semi-functional Paperwhite.

[twobob]

Indeed this is true.

It's not those apples we worry about