[Odessa]

Thank you all for your answers.

The fake registration hack is outside of my comfort zone.

I do use unique email addresses for all accounts, so Kobo got its own exclusive address, too.

Originally Posted by DNSB

Kobo does not keep track of books not purchased from Kobo other than pages read and books finished.

So it does track non-Kobo books ? Is that only done locally, by the Libra's software, or is it done on the server ?

What I want to avoid is an Amazon-like situation, where Amazon (not only the Kindle) knows what parts of a book you have highlighted, can lock you out of your books if it bans your account, etc.

Originally Posted by DNSB

I'm not sure why you keep mentioning Adobe since they are not an ebook vendor.

Because in order to read DRM-protected books, even free ones, or to read borrowed books, one has to install Adobe Digital Editions, open an Adobe account, and register one's PC and Kobo reader with Adobe. Which is known to have very privacy-hostile habits.

Originally Posted by DNSB

For any vendor, follow the same download, remove DRM and back up.

So if I use Calibre and the relevant plug-ins, any book, including .kepubs, can be converted into an ordinary .epub not dependent on any user account or link to vendor ?

Originally Posted by DNSB

You can easily de-link your Libra. Go to Settings/Accounts and tap on Sign Out.

Yes, I saw that. However, this does not just sign out of the account. It seems to reset completely the Libra. You then need to re-type the Wifi password, probably do something to connect the account again (I don't remember, and it's so annoying I don't want to do it all over again just to check), and it also seems to reset all settings to default.

In fact, it seems "signing out of the account" prevents you from using the Libra at all. You have to re-do all the set-up from the start before you can read anything.

Also, "signing out of the account" seems to do something different according to whether it's done on the Libra, on Kobo Desktop or in the account itself through a browser.

Doing it through the browser seems to just, well, disconnect from the account. That's expected behaviour.

Trying to do it from Kobo Desktop, however, you get a warning asking you : are you sure, this will delete all highlightings from all your books. Which nobody would want, obviously.

And doing it from the Libra does a third, different set of things, nuking the whole device.

Do you confirm that's indeed how it works ?

Is it possible to use a Libra while having a Kobo account, but not being connected to it ? What would the consequences be ?

What are the consequences of using a Libra without a Kobo account (if at all possible) ?

If I now go into my Kobo account through a browser, and delete the account (which seems to be the only way to do it), what would the consequences be ?