Quote:
Originally Posted by Jane Eyre
Hi guys.
In your opinion, does kobo track users' activity? Are there any concrete risks about sideloaded ebooks from Internet while syncing the ereader? Does kobo spy us and see our files inside?
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If you are using a device which connects to the internet you may expect the worst.
It is very likely that most companies, if not all, collect all available data about their users, whenever possible.
Even if Kobo currently does not collect metadata from sideloaded books, can you be certain they will never do so in the future?
One might ask, 'Who cares if they know what I read, when, and for how long?' By itself, it may not seem harmful to anyone. However, the issue arises when your reading habits become just a small fragment of the extensive data collected from you throughout your lifetime. What seems irrelevant today could potentially be incriminating tomorrow.
Personally I use my Kobo devices in sideloaded mode, convert my epubs with kepubify and then copy the books to the device. Wifi is always disabled and I see no reason to use it anymore.
The devices' MAC addresses are also blocked in the firewall just to make sure they cannot connect to the internet in any circumstances.
I don't think though that you can do this with Kobo plus subscription. I buy the books, DeDRM them, so even if the kobo store closes for any reason in the future (not likely, but who knows) I can keep my books on my devices indefinitely, and, of course, read them at any time without the watchful eyes of the Big Brother.
Also here is a somewhat in depth analisis about e-books and privacy:
https://ebookfriendly.com/ebooks-pri...hings-to-know/