MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Adobe Digital Editions is monitoring Calibre database

molman · 08-03-2011, 07:54 PM

Ok I'll take this seriously.

1. I don't see a thumbnail. Where are you getting this error from?

2. You are jumping to conclusions with unsubstantiated information. If you suspect that ADE is aware of your ePub's located in your Calibre file location there are tools/means of factually verifying this. You can use a tool like Process Monitor (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s...rnals/bb896645) to see if ADE ever touches your files located in that section of the file system. Obviously you would have all other applications closed but Process Monitor set to log, open ADE and record the interactions. Like others have indicated you may have associated ADE with .epubs, or ADE may do a system scan for any .epub files in much the same manner that applications like iTunes can scan an import any associated files into their library. Again you can go into your control panel > default programs (win7) to see what application is associated with what file type.

3. Your further jump to the conclusion that ADE being aware of your ePub's = Adobe being aware. Again this is unsubstantiated. You could investigate this by using a tool like WireShark (http://www.wireshark.org/) to capture the packets on your network connection to see what interaction ADE may be having with Adobe servers. The payloads may be encrypted, so you might not be able to tell specifics but this should give you some notion, though one would expect ‘some’ interaction for DRM reasons.

4. Contact Adobe and ask what information is transmitted by ADE. Obviously there is going to be some interaction for it to employ its DRM. You and your system would have a unique id, likely an ip address recorded also, and then some key exchanges to allow you to open your ebooks. They are likely also aware of the books 'in' ADE, though I'd be curious if they know specific book names or just some abstract id. I highly doubt they would transmit any information of files on your systems outside this as it would run afoul of laws in certain countries, though it is not uncommon for software to transmit some general system information (os version etc.).

5. The fact that ADE is crashing ("as always does") is already problematic and points to some issues that may or may not be due to ADE itself. I personally practise good computing hygiene and have not had ADE crash on any of the three systems I use. These crashes may be indicative of larger issues, including but not limited to conflicts, corrupt system files, malware, rootkits, faulty or failing hardware etc.

As you can see there are some practical steps you can take before exclaiming what at this point is FUD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_u...inty_and_doubt). I also take privacy seriously so I'm not discounting your concerns, but the positioning of your post jumping to so many conclusions is unhelpful, and alarmist at best.

08-03-2011, 07:54 PM	#8
molman Evangelist Posts: 436 Karma: 538958 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: none	Ok I'll take this seriously. 1. I don't see a thumbnail. Where are you getting this error from? 2. You are jumping to conclusions with unsubstantiated information. If you suspect that ADE is aware of your ePub's located in your Calibre file location there are tools/means of factually verifying this. You can use a tool like Process Monitor (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s...rnals/bb896645) to see if ADE ever touches your files located in that section of the file system. Obviously you would have all other applications closed but Process Monitor set to log, open ADE and record the interactions. Like others have indicated you may have associated ADE with .epubs, or ADE may do a system scan for any .epub files in much the same manner that applications like iTunes can scan an import any associated files into their library. Again you can go into your control panel > default programs (win7) to see what application is associated with what file type. 3. Your further jump to the conclusion that ADE being aware of your ePub's = Adobe being aware. Again this is unsubstantiated. You could investigate this by using a tool like WireShark (http://www.wireshark.org/) to capture the packets on your network connection to see what interaction ADE may be having with Adobe servers. The payloads may be encrypted, so you might not be able to tell specifics but this should give you some notion, though one would expect ‘some’ interaction for DRM reasons. 4. Contact Adobe and ask what information is transmitted by ADE. Obviously there is going to be some interaction for it to employ its DRM. You and your system would have a unique id, likely an ip address recorded also, and then some key exchanges to allow you to open your ebooks. They are likely also aware of the books 'in' ADE, though I'd be curious if they know specific book names or just some abstract id. I highly doubt they would transmit any information of files on your systems outside this as it would run afoul of laws in certain countries, though it is not uncommon for software to transmit some general system information (os version etc.). 5. The fact that ADE is crashing ("as always does") is already problematic and points to some issues that may or may not be due to ADE itself. I personally practise good computing hygiene and have not had ADE crash on any of the three systems I use. These crashes may be indicative of larger issues, including but not limited to conflicts, corrupt system files, malware, rootkits, faulty or failing hardware etc. As you can see there are some practical steps you can take before exclaiming what at this point is FUD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_u...inty_and_doubt). I also take privacy seriously so I'm not discounting your concerns, but the positioning of your post jumping to so many conclusions is unhelpful, and alarmist at best. Last edited by molman; 08-03-2011 at 08:03 PM.