What's with the Paranoia?

[hildea]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What would impact you if you did register your Reader? I'm not talking something perceived but something that is actually an issue to yourself.

For me, personally, registering my current ereader wouldn't give me any features I'm interested in, so I have no reason at all to spend any time or effort on it.

Regarding your second sentence: I'm not only motivated by things that have a direct, measurable consequence for myself. I'm willing to go to some inconvenience and expense for issues that mainly impact others, or impact society as a whole, or impact future generations. Not necessarily a lot of inconvenience and expense -- I'm not claiming to be some paragon of altruism. I just want to point out that if you're asking only about direct impact on myself, you're ignoring part of what motivates me.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by hildea

For me, personally, registering my current ereader wouldn't give me any features I'm interested in, so I have no reason at all to spend any time or effort on it.

That's not what I asked. I asked that if you did register your Reader, how would that impact you? What would happen that you would notice and be bothered by?

Regarding your second sentence: I'm not only motivated by things that have a direct, measurable consequence for myself. I'm willing to go to some inconvenience and expense for issues that mainly impact others, or impact society as a whole, or impact future generations. Not necessarily a lot of inconvenience and expense -- I'm not claiming to be some paragon of altruism. I just want to point out that if you're asking only about direct impact on myself, you're ignoring part of what motivates me.

How would your registering effect future generations? It wouldn't. Society as a whole? Nope. And how would you know what impacts others when registering? And just how do you think you are protecting others by not registering? And to say you are protecting future generations, that's just silly to me.

I didn't ask about others. I asked about what impacts you if you were to register.

[hildea]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I asked about what impacts you if you were to register.

To me? Nothing, I expect. No advantages. Probably no disadvantages, though I may get some spam from the bookshop or unwanted notifications from the social media thing ("Do you want to rate this book"-stuff) when I finish a book.

[hildea]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

How would your registering effect future generations? It wouldn't. Society as a whole? Nope. And how would you know what impacts others when registering? And just how do you think you are protecting others by not registering? And to say you are protecting future generations, that's just silly to me.

That part was a general comment about the impact of erosion of online privacy, and the power of huge companies like Amazon, Google, and Facebook. My ereader is from a pretty small company, so registering that one probably doesn't have any impact on those issues.

Although I read a news story recently (link, in Norwegian) about a Norwegian citizen using an app developed in Slovakia, and the data from that app ended up in an American company which sells data to US law enforcement, among others. So it's not completely farfetched to be concerned about data flowing from an obscure ereader to powerful entities which I might not want to trust with my personal data.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by hildea

That part was a general comment about the impact of erosion of online privacy, and the power of huge companies like Amazon, Google, and Facebook. My ereader is from a pretty small company, so registering that one probably doesn't have any impact on those issues.

Although I read a news story recently (link, in Norwegian) about a Norwegian citizen using an app developed in Slovakia, and the data from that app ended up in an American company which sells data to US law enforcement, among others. So it's not completely farfetched to be concerned about data flowing from an obscure ereader to powerful entities which I might not want to trust with my personal data.

Can you tell me of one person who has gotten in trouble by registering a Kobo, Amazon, or B&N Reader?

[hildea]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Can you tell me of one person who has gotten in trouble by registering a Kobo, Amazon, or B&N Reader?

One person? Linn Nygaard.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by hildea

One person? Linn Nygaard.

Sorry, but that's not someone having a problem because of having a registered Kindle. That's an account issue. The account would have been closed even if her Kindle wasn't registered. This has to be something specific to having a Reader registered.

[fabricalado]

People not wanting to provide their reading habits to whichever companies because they don't trust/like them seems reason enough for me not to register an ereader.

Isn't that what we're doing when choosing a smartphone (iPhone vs Huawei vs Pixel), email provider, search engine etc? At least for me, it's a negative act: I choose company A because I don't want to be with company B.

Some people are fine with giving up their privacy, others aren't, but we do it all the time, I think.

[fabricalado]

Originally Posted by haertig

"If it's not condescending and insulting to call people paranoid, what is it then?"

Assert your opinion as a fact, then challenge everyone to defend themselves against your silly assertion.

See ... anybody can play this stupid game.

Could also be projecting on OP's part.

...otherwise, what is it then?

[hildea]

Originally Posted by fabricalado

People not wanting to provide their reading habits to whichever companies because they don't trust/like them seems reason enough for me not to register an ereader.

Yes, I agree. This is my personal reason for not registering (well, in addition to it not having any benefit for me).

There are lots of interesting discussions to be had around this issue:

• Privacy vs convenience
• Who owns data, who gets to decide how they are used
• The power of big companies, and how they use it
• The challenges around mass surveillance, related to freedom of thought, crime prevention, the state of democracy, and the chilling effect. If I know that the police can get access to my reading habits, will that make me less likely to buy books about some topics -- whether personally embarassing or about illegal activities I might consider, like civil disobedience? (In parenthesis: A Norwegian journalist was arrested for a book he was reading (this one, but with this cover) when in USA (he was going to Mexico, but had to change planes in USA), stripsearched, spent a night in jail, and was then sent back to Norway. So it's not completely farfetched to be concerned about law enforcement jumping to conclusions based on your reading material.)
• And on a more personal level: Functionality of ereaders, drawbacks and advantages of various ways to set up our ereaders

I'm not going to spend any more time trying to explain my personal preferences to you, Jon -- it's about as useful and interesting as registering my ereader at that Ukrainian (?) bookstore. If anyone wants to discuss any of the more interesting related topics, I'll probably join.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by hildea

Yes, I agree. This is my personal reason for not registering (well, in addition to it not having any benefit for me).

There are lots of interesting discussions to be had around this issue:

• Privacy vs convenience
• Who owns data, who gets to decide how they are used
• The power of big companies, and how they use it
• The challenges around mass surveillance, related to freedom of thought, crime prevention, the state of democracy, and the chilling effect. If I know that the police can get access to my reading habits, will that make me less likely to buy books about some topics -- whether personally embarassing or about illegal activities I might consider, like civil disobedience? (In parenthesis: A Norwegian journalist was arrested for a book he was reading (this one, but with this cover) when in USA (he was going to Mexico, but had to change planes in USA), stripsearched, spent a night in jail, and was then sent back to Norway. So it's not completely farfetched to be concerned about law enforcement jumping to conclusions based on your reading material.)
• And on a more personal level: Functionality of ereaders, drawbacks and advantages of various ways to set up our ereaders

I'm not going to spend any more time trying to explain my personal preferences to you, Jon -- it's about as useful and interesting as registering my ereader at that Ukrainian (?) bookstore. If anyone wants to discuss any of the more interesting related topics, I'll probably join.

Great answer by Hildea. I think this encompasses what lots of people have said throughout this thread.

It appears Jon's definition of "harm" or "trouble" relates to having one's data hacked or stolen (Jon, feel free to correct me if I've misinterpreted your posts) while others have different or broader definitions.

[cvkemp]

Here is may take if you are that worried about your privacy, don’t have a cell phone, and don’t have or ever get on the internet. Other than that use some common sense and enjoy life.

[Ghitulescu]

Maybe the watching of the movie Conspiracy Theory (Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts, Patrick Stewart) and see the scene in the bookshop concerning the book Catcher in the Rye would change some people habits

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Ghitulescu

Maybe the watching of the movie Conspiracy Theory (Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts, Patrick Stewart) and see the scene in the bookshop concerning the book Catcher in the Rye would change some people habits

Nope. Fiction never changes any of my habits.

[harriska2]

Originally Posted by haertig

The difference for me is the level of snooping. Wanting to know what I bought is one thing. Wanting to know how many hours a day I read, what page I am currently on, how fast I am reading, if I abandoned a book part way through, etc., is just creepy.

As an analogy, I would let a stranger take a picture of the outside of my house. People drive by and see my house all the time. It is not a secret. If you were out there 24x7 photographing every angle of my house, drawing sketches, taking notes - I might come out and question you. But a drive-by one-off picture? Have at it.

However, I would not let a stranger inside my house to take pictures of my bedroom. Even if they asked first, but especially if they tried to obscure what they were doing and snuck inside on their own. This is not because there is anything in my bedroom that could be used to harm me if a picture was taken of it. However, it's just too invasive. The fuzzy line of privacy has been crossed. It's creepy for someone to want to do that. Their motives would always be questionable, no mater how they tried to explain their interest in my bedroom.

How do I keep strangers with cameras out of my bedroom? I lock my doors. Many people don't lock their doors. But I do. Same things goes for unnecessarily registering things and agreeing to invasive data collection. Do that if you want. But I don't.

*This*