K3 with wireless turned off?

[derbin]

Hello All, I'd like to get an e-reader purely for reading (don't care about web-access, periodicals, wireless purchases, etc.). I'm considering getting a Kindle, but I object, in priciple, to Amazon recording what I read, what I highlight, etc. My question is, if I turn off the WiFi (I'd get the non-3G Kindle obviously), and leave it off, will I have any problems?

Can I update the firmware without wireless? Can I sideload books (non-Amazon) onto the Kindle without wireless?

Are there any issues I haven't thought of that would be a problem?

Thanks!

[Sydney's Mom]

I have done all of those things without wireless on. There were people who couldn't access the 3G network, and they managed. But snooping is in the contract for all the ebook readers. Look at it this way - Amazon got in a mountain of trouble when they wiped a bootleg copy of 1984 off ereaders without warning. I don't think they will try anything like that again. The customer relations would be horrible. I also think Bezos has better things to do that see how long it takes me to read Atlas Shrugged.

Just my opinion.

[Connallmac]

Originally Posted by derbin

Hello All, I'd like to get an e-reader purely for reading (don't care about web-access, periodicals, wireless purchases, etc.). I'm considering getting a Kindle, but I object, in priciple, to Amazon recording what I read, what I highlight, etc. My question is, if I turn off the WiFi (I'd get the non-3G Kindle obviously), and leave it off, will I have any problems?

Have you considered that by purchasing a Kindle through your Amazon account and with a credit/debit card of some ilk, that Amazon will in fact have a pretty good idea what you are reading? I used to think it was a lot safer to buy things like "The Communist Manifesto" and "The Catcher in the Rye" and the like with cash, but as I've gotten older I stopped caring. I really don't care who knows what I read. Just a thought.

[derbin]

Originally Posted by Connallmac

Have you considered that by purchasing a Kindle through your Amazon account and with a credit/debit card of some ilk, that Amazon will in fact have a pretty good idea what you are reading? I used to think it was a lot safer to buy things like "The Communist Manifesto" and "The Catcher in the Rye" and the like with cash, but as I've gotten older I stopped caring. I really don't care who knows what I read. Just a thought.

Oh I doubt they know what I read if I don't buy books from them, and when I do buy books from others (though most of the books I would read would be from Project Guttenberg, etc.) I use a different credit card, perhaps with a one-time number

As I said though, it's a principle thing. There's nothing I read that anyone would care much about other than the behavioral scientists at Amazon's marketing firm, and it's with that whole burgeoning industry that I have a philosophical problem. It's very tilting-at-windmills-ish I realize, but I'll provide them with as little information about me as I can for as long as I can.