Quote:
Originally Posted by conan50
If someone wants to have the most control over their ebooks, software, and hardware, what are some of the best open source solutions?
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The overlooked issues are:
- Software that calls home;
- Software that distributes malware;
That software is distributed under an open source license, does not mean that neither of those two issues are not going to be present.
Calling home can be benign. For example, the software simply looks to see if a newer version is available, and if so, updates itself.
Calling home can be malevolent. The program ships a copy of everything on your tablet, and all input, to an unknown destination.
What information about the platform usage does the operating system retain, and transmit to other parties?
What information about the platform usage does other software obtain, and transmit to other parties?
Likewise:
What information about the device contents does the operating system retain, and transmit to other parties?
What information about the device contents does other software obtain, and transmit to other parties?
The next questions that need to be addressed are:
- What are the proposed use cases;
- What are the threat models;
The use case is not "reading", but rather, the type of reading:
- Casual mind candy, partaking of two or three per day;
- Analysis of legal briefs, verifying citations do imply what is claimed, and the like;
- Study for college/graduate work;
- Portable reference library;
- Something else;
For threat models, you are looking at:
- Unknown third party tracking your activity, via the device;
- Unknown third party using the device for nefarious purposes;
- Unknown third party altering data in the device;
- How soon the vendor will abandon the hardware;
- How soon the vendor will abandon the software;
There are both major and minor variants of each of those scenarios.
There also is the issue of how much tracking of your activity, and contents of your device, you are comfortable with, by those parties that "request" your permission to do so. More pointedly, how comfortable are you with those entities selling the data about you that they found?
Whilst FLOSS solutions, in theory, provide the "right answer", in practice that need not be the case. The virtue of FLOSS is that one can examine the source code, if one has the appropriate tools. With closed source, one needs both the appropriate tools, and the appropriate amount of cash, to perform the same type of scrutiny.
I've seen a couple of open hardware designs, that are purportedly suitable for tablets, and eBook readers. One could, in theory, purchase parts off-the-shelf, then assemble the device. Install an appropriate OS, and go from there.
So, if you have the time, energy, cash, and know-how....