Quote:
Originally Posted by FF2
Let us know what you discover. I guess I should try finding that log file.
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Nothing very interesting. There are four "hidden" files >1MB each that seem to contain the system files for the Kindle but could contain usage data. That's in the documents folder.
There are a few things in the "hidden" system folder: In the Index subfolder, there's a 1kb index log, which is a short line of gibberish, but it possibly contains a marker that tells the Kindle the index status. There's an index db file I haven't opened yet and it's about 14MB. I think I still have a database viewer on my other laptop that will read it so I'll look at that later. There are also index files for each book on the Kindle, varying in size depending on the book.
Also in that system folder is the json file that holds the collection information. For each entry it contains the collection names, and a hash (a long alpha-numeric ID) for each book. From what I can tell, if a book is from Amazon and has intact DRM and an intact ASIN number, it uses that ASIN; otherwise one is created from the book's metadata. The file also contains last access information for each collection for sorting purposes. There is another file for Audible activation.This folder also contains a subfolder with the dictionary and the related settings file in it.
In the Documents folder there is a file with each book that has (I assume) last page opened and access time information.
The only other data I can find stored on here are the files for active content that holds game settings and previously played data.
We already know that Amazon is storing your last page access info - it's right in the ToS and it's also used for device syncing. They don't really need page-by-page unless they want to see who's skimming. It's pretty easy to use the access information to deduce that "She sat down and read it in two-hour increments over a period of two days" or "She stopped at page 26 a week ago and hasn't opened it since".
The thing that I
can't find that really has me curious is the browser information. I guess I'll have to log onto a few sites, then compare files before and after deleting cookies. It's possible that this info is stored in the >1MB files I mentioned at the beginning of this post.
I'm not too worried, really. If Amazon has this info in a form useful beyond syncing with Whispernet, they will find a way to make money from it. If they start offering additional data to publishers and self-publishers, it will be at a premium and we will hear about it.
As for phoning home, mine connected once not too long after I stopped reading last night and once to download the Amazon Daily early this morning but I haven't seen any other activity. I was mistaken yesterday about the additional IPs - one of the ones I was seeing was for my VOIP connection.