Security and Privacy of "Send Email to Kindle"?

[haertig]

I was considering trying the "Send to Kindle via Email" thing. As a mental/learning exercise mostly - I doubt I'll really use this feature, but it would be nice to know how it works.

I assume that anything you "Send to Kindle via Email" you are giving to Amazon for free. They receive it on their servers, they store it, they keep it, they can snoop it any time they want. Is this correct?

I would never put anything sensitive on a Kindle, let alone email sensitive stuff to one. But I'm interested in what Amazon does (or could do) with documents that use their emailing service. I don't really care if Amazon knows what I'm reading, even if I bought it elsewhere than Amazon - EXCEPT if they are using that information to increase their profits - e.g., by selling it to third parties or using it for their targeted advertising to me. In that case, they can buy that data from me, it's not theirs to take for free without my permission. I am against "snooping for profit" and will go out of my way to thwart it, even for something minor like trying to find out what book titles I like to read.

Can anyone verify or debunk my speculative assumptions above? Thanks!

[Quoth]

No, please use USB transfer.

A) We have no idea how Amazon manages this.
B) They process the content.
C) If they said how secure and private it is, can you believe them?

I recommend Calibre, and until DeDRM is on Python 3, use version 4.23

I do buy ebooks on Amazon on occasion. I select Download to PC and my PW3 as target. Mostly I read them on my Kobo Libra and use my three different Kindles to test formatting of newly created ebooks. Via USB copy AKA sideload.

The Kindle App is of more concern than the eink (The Fire uses an App) as it starts as a service on Android and communicates without Sync being selected.

Sync on Kindle seems to mess up Collections which work badly compared to a Kobo anyway.

[tomsem]

I would not use email to send things and would opt instead for one of the Send To Kindle apps:
1 - you are involving a 3rd party (namely whoever hosts your email service), and whatever privacy and security deficiencies they may have
2 - you are limited by the attachment size limit of your email service, typically around 20MB. With the STK apps (including Kindle for iOS if you are using an iOS device) it is something like 50MB. If you are using a desktop email client, it’s also going to chew up disk space unless you prune your mail folders regularly (specifically Sent Mail folder).
3 - you do not have the opportunity to edit the Title/Author of whatever it is you are sending

Amazon’s privacy policies are there to read. If you are concerned then you should read them and decide if your concerns are justified.

That said, I use this feature less and less as time goes by, mostly because I have quite enough to read and usually consume this external content in situ (for example read .epub files with an .epub app on my tablet/phone) rather than taking the time to convert it and possibly find it didn’t convert well.

[Quoth]

Your email provider is only an issue if it's Google. It's FAR worse to send to Amazon. A send to Kindle app is a third party.

You have ZERO ability to know if Amazon's stated policies are real or even know what they mean.

[haertig]

Thanks for the replies.

As I mentioned before, I was not seriously considering using the email to Kindle thing. But I wanted to learn about it. I've been using Calibre for years, and that is my method for transferring books. However, I have two friends that have recently joined the circle of Kindle users, and I was hoping to be able to talk intelligently with them regarding pluses/minuses of various ways to add content to their new devices. I know Calibre quite well, but I'm not so familiar with other methods of moving content, because I haven't used them personally.

[binaryhermit]

Also, I believe email is sent between servers unencrypted so it'd be trivial for someone with access to the data traveling between your email provider and Amazon to snoop on the contents of emails.

Or at least this used to be the case.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Your email provider is only an issue if it's Google. It's FAR worse to send to Amazon. A send to Kindle app is a third party.

You have ZERO ability to know if Amazon's stated policies are real or even know what they mean.

I would not use third party Send To Kindle apps, only Amazon’s (for Windows or macOS), or what is built in to the Kindle app for iOS.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by haertig

I assume that anything you "Send to Kindle via Email" you are giving to Amazon for free. They receive it on their servers, they store it, they keep it, they can snoop it any time they want. Is this correct?

Yes. And what's more, you're giving it to your mail provider, and your ISP, and anyone else with a server on the route between you and Amazon.

Anything sent unencrypted over the internet can be read. If you want it kept private, don't send it over the internet.

[Quoth]

And in case it's not clear, a "Send to Kindle" app is just an extra stage in the pipeline with an extra company who then emails it to Amazon.

Obviously with some stuff it doesn't matter. Curiously you can upload to KDP securely, or send stuff to the UK Guardian securely (though the police may hear of it and lock you up till you give them a copy, or your passwords, in the UK). The only way to securely send to Kindle is a boring USB cable, which also charges it.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Quoth

And in case it's not clear, a "Send to Kindle" app is just an extra stage in the pipeline with an extra company who then emails it to Amazon.

And in case it is not clear, there is no ‘extra company’ if you use Amazon’s Send To Kindle app for macOS or Windows, or the Kindle app on iOS. And these don’t use email.