Hacks Kindle paperwhite privacy concerns

[Andrew H.]

If you buy books from Amazon, Amazon is going to know what you bought.
If you use whispersync, Amazon is going to know various things about how far you've read in the book.
If you e-mail "personal documents" (i.e., other books) to your kindle, Amazon is going to know what it is called, how many "locations" it has, and other data it needs for whispersync.
If you use the lending library, it will know what books you lend.
If you lend a book to another Kindle owner, Amazon will know that, and how long they had it.
If you borrow library books on your Kindle, Amazon will know that.

And of course they know your CC information, address, and any reviews you may have written.

I'm probably forgetting some things, but all of that information is necessary for Amazon to provide various bits of useful functionality. I would be surprised if Amazon really knew much more beyond this - but it seems like they already know quite a bit as it is.

[sirmaru]

Actually, the eBooks your read can tell a lot about you. If you were a terrorist suspect, the FBI could obtain your Amazon records with a warrent and use your reading habits to gain more information about you.

For most of us our reading information is meaningless to anyone but ourselves and Amazon so they can provide good suggestions for future eBook sales to us.

[jharrison]

The Wall Street Journal wrote an article in July titled, "Your E-Book is Reading You" and it details the information collected.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...051438304.html

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by jharrison

The Wall Street Journal wrote an article in July titled, "Your E-Book is Reading You" and it details the information collected.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...051438304.html

That was a fascinating article and promises that in the future eBooks will be much better suited to our particular tastes.

From that article: " It's no secret that Amazon and other digital book retailers track and store consumer information detailing what books are purchased and read. Kindle users sign an agreement granting the company permission to store information from the device—including the last page you've read, plus your bookmarks, highlights, notes and annotations—in its data servers."

[condor13]

I always wonder about people blindly hailing every technical progress as if it’s being just made to make our world better. Well, this might have been the main intention in the past, today it’s been dumped for other reasons: power, control and the beloved and worshipped money. Or to cite some commenter from the WSJ article: “the idea that a unique and shattering piece of brilliance will never be written because the author doesn't want to paint by numbers is a chilling one for our culture”…

[DiapDealer]

The kindle device logs quite a lot of info. A registered kindle device connected to the internet talks to Amazon servers quite a bit. Yes, those local logs could easily be pushed/pulled to Amazon servers. Yes, those frequent communications are encrypted. However... after much scrutiny, experimentation and network sniffing, no one (to my knowledge) has actually caught the kindle "phoning home" data of any size that would indicate log files (or even portions of log files) are being transmitted in these encrypted communications while the device is at rest. They are pretty-much the size of most "keep-alive" pings.

In short: yes... I think Amazon could easily access log files on your device without you knowing. But most evidence suggests that's not what's happening.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

In short: yes... I think Amazon could easily access log files on your device without you knowing. But most evidence suggests that's not what's happening.

The log files are there for diagnostic purposes. A couple of years ago, when I was having a problem with my Kindle Touch, Kindle Tech Support specifically asked my permission to pull the log files from my Kindle to assist in their diagnosis of the problem.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The log files are there for diagnostic purposes. A couple of years ago, when I was having a problem with my Kindle Touch, Kindle Tech Support specifically asked my permission to pull the log files from my Kindle to assist in their diagnosis of the problem.

That's what I think too, Harry.

It just doesn't make sense to me that they'd ask your permission to pull the same log files that they'd been supposedly automagically uploading to their servers all along.

Doesn't change the fact that from a technological standpoint, I believe they could access the log files anytime they wanted (from a connected/registered device). But I'm more than satisfied that they're not, in fact, doing that (with the exception of your aforementioned technical support scenario).

[jbcohen]

In the real world one of the hats I wear is an information security officer and as such I spend my days worrying about just this sort of thing. What information on your kindle is secured information? Typically the credit card information and that's encrpyted. What does your kindle know about you? If it was a person you met on the street would it recognize you? no, does it know where you live? no, amazon's servers know that, it knows what you read, and I have freely told everyone on mobile read what I have read this year - its on my reading challenge list, go ahead take a look if you want. Your kindle does not know much about you, yourr mother and your wife knows a lot more about you then your kindle does.

My advice is stop worrying about this the kindle does not know much about you.

[soulfuldog]

Common sense, actual facts of what is in log files, and that Amazon don't routinely examine them to see what you are reading? It'll never catch on..... Hopefully anyone that actually owns a Kindle will read posts like the last few in this thread and realise there is no need to panic! While all those who either choose not to use Amazon for whatever reason, or just don't like Amazon will continue to believe they are being spied on.