Privacy: Are my book titles being uploaded to the Kobo cloud?

[TonyToews]

When I open a new side loaded book in the Vox I see that a reading life notification is set which offers to let me post it to Facebook. But now I'm wondering if that book title is being uploaded to the Kobo cloud/database? If so how can I turn that off?

[taming]

This seems to be a variation of the question you asked on the main forum. I do not see an option to turn off reading life on the Vox and there is one on the Touch. Good question for one of the developers, for sure. I suppose you could read non-Kobo books using Aldiko or another reader, until you find out.

If you use one of the Opera browsers, or the browser on the flame, everything passes though their servers, so the question becomes if it is just the journey that is made, or is the data being captured for future use, is it anonymous and grouped in with a gaxzliion other data points, etc.

Canada has pretty strong privacy protections. Knowing what is happening is important.

[Haesslich]

Point of contention: Opera Mini and Opera Mobile are two COMPLETELY different beasts - the first runs everything through a proxy that reformats pages to a mobile-friendly version. Unless you're using the Turbo features or the Link features on Opera Mobile, Opera Mobile does not have to talk to Opera's servers at all... which also means you don't get notified the moment the latest version of the browser's out, unlike Firefox or Chrome (which talk to home all the time, and if you've turned on the sync features also upload your bookmarks/history as does Opera Link).

Basically, Opera Mobile's like your standard desktop browser; unless you tell it to upload everything or run through a proxy, it doesn't. Dolphin HD 7 had issues with it doing so anyways, without telling you, whether you were using Dolphin's link service or not... and did it in plaintext too.

As for Reading Life, anyone tried reading a non-Kobo kePub to see if it uploads to FB?

EDIT: I meant non-Kobo regular ePub files, with the Kobo app on the Vox. I don't use FB with this thing, so I can't test it.

[taming]

It does on the Touch. I use that as my main reading device, and have tested it. I only use kepubs on the Vox Kobo app.



I have the most locked down FB account in the world. No friends. No picture. No nothing. Set not to share anything to anybody. I have it because I have a very common name and all sorts of people with the same name believe that their gmail account is that name.

Nope, I am the only taming.noodles at gmail.com. (obviously not my real address). Every other day I was getting notices that indicated that some other Taming Noodles had set up an account in "our" name. I could get them pulled, but finally it seemed smarter to just set up an account.

I used to do FB a bit, but no more, don't trust 'em, don't need 'em. that could change, of course, but I doubt it at this point.

[taming]

FWIW (I'm a social worker, not a lawyer, so it's all a messy bunch of words to me)

http://www.kobobooks.com/privacypolicy
http://download.kobobooks.com/learnm...rms_of_Use.pdf

[TonyToews]

Originally Posted by taming

This seems to be a variation of the question you asked on the main forum.

Correct. The variation is that this question is specific to the Vox. The main forum question is specific to the WiFi/Touch. As they are two different products I figured two different questions would be reasonable.

[taming]

And i gave two different answers. I was noticing, not attacking .

[TonyToews]

Originally Posted by taming

FWIW (I'm a social worker, not a lawyer, so it's all a messy bunch of words to me)

http://www.kobobooks.com/privacypolicy

Thanks for that. I should've looked for those myself.

"Upon request, We will inform You of the existence, use and disclosure of personal information relating to You" and there's an email address. So I will also ask this question of the Privacy Officer.

I also was wondering if more knowledgeable folks than I am would know how to sniff the network traffic between the Vox/Touch and the Kobo cloud.

[oldyellr]

Originally Posted by taming

I do not see an option to turn off reading life on the Vox and there is one on the Touch. Good question for one of the developers, for sure.

A very important question, too. Whether or not privacy is being invaded, I find the Reading Life thing annoying and completely useless to me. It's almost as if Kobo is trying to drag us into the social media culture. This should be an app you can add instead for those who really want it. I'm also annoyed by the Facebook connection you have to opt out of. It's almost as if Kobo may be gathering data about our reading habits.

There are far more important features we need, such ad multiple bookmarking in each book, the ability to text search and jump to any page or chapter instead of this crap. I just hope that when all this is fixed, we'll be able to get a free upgrade.

[taming]

You can turn off Pulse and not connect to Facebook. Software/firmware updates are always free. If you are expecting being given a gift of whatever the 2nd generation device turns out to be, well dream on. I'm hoping they book a cruise ship for us all and take us someplace warm in, say, February.

Kobo will be adding features to the app as they go forward. If you want a social free experience, you can read all of your books on another app using the Vox, or you can return the Vox and buy something else that does NOT bother you in this way.

Kobo promotes Reading Life as a feature that differentiates it from other offerings by other providers/companies. I sorta don't get why anyone would buy a Kobo device if they had this degree of disgust with a feature that Kobo clearly promotes the heck out of. That said, I would like an opt out choice for RL, for those who want it. I like it.

[hpulley]

I like Pulse and Reading life. I don't have Reading Life doing auto-posts to Facebook. Honestly no one on Facebook seems to give a whatever about my books so I've stopped posting anything there. Pulse is still fairly dead at least for the books I'm reading, hopefully it will become more lively! A virtual book club would be cool to me.

It isn't seamless enough though. It seems that the highlight/notes are easy to send to facebook but not to Pulse unless I'm missing something.

[taming]

No. You are not missing anything. Right now Pulse is totally separate from any other kind of notes etc. I have no idea if that will change in the future.

[oldyellr]

Originally Posted by taming

If you are expecting being given a gift of whatever the 2nd generation device turns out to be, well dream on.

Granted, the Vox will be upgraded periodically and there's no money to be made with free upgrades. However, since it's just a month old and there's people accusing Kobo of rushing it to market prematurely, I would expect free bug fixes and firmware updates. At the very least, the eReader ought to have all the features of Kobo's earlier products, if not more.

Originally Posted by taming

If you want a social free experience, you can read all of your books on another app using the Vox, or you can return the Vox and buy something else that does NOT bother you in this way.

Hey, my Vox was a gift and I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, but I was expecting just an eReader and got more.

Originally Posted by taming

That said, I would like an opt out choice for RL, for those who want it. I like it.

Yeah, that's all I was saying. I guess I'll just drive my Cadillac and not use the air conditioning and power options.

[KoboJW]

Sideloaded books are NOT uploaded to the Kobo 'cloud'. They remain solely on your Vox. Try logging in on another device - you'll notice that the books you have sideloaded on your Vox will not appear in your library on that device.

You can turn off Reading Life notification on Vox:

From the Library: Menu -> Settings > Reading Life Notifications.

In the Vox, nothing is autoshared to Facebook, so unless you chose to share your privacy is maintained.

James

[TonyToews]

Originally Posted by KoboJW

Sideloaded books are NOT uploaded to the Kobo 'cloud'. They remain solely on your Vox. Try logging in on another device - you'll notice that the books you have sideloaded on your Vox will not appear in your library on that device.

James, thanks for the reply. Yes, I had figured that sideloaded books are not uploaded as I don't see those on my Kobo Touch.

But what about the titles themselves?