candy.js spyware embedded in ebooks

[conan50]

"Big Brother" ebooks? It's almost crazy enough to be laughable, but then again, some people post every action and location of everything they do on Facebook--why wouldn't publishers want this for ebooks?
I remember the good old days, just a reader and a book and nobody's business.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by conan50

I remember the good old days, just a reader and a book and nobody's business.

Seems it will still be the same for those who use Calibre to manage their library and leave Wi-Fi off on their readers. I know that’s a small subset of readers, but then again, so is the group that will actually care.

I do wonder how this spyware will play on a PC. I read a horror story about Adobe putting in a bit of spyware that would scan your library and send the details back to Adobe.

[conan50]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Seems it will still be the same for those who use Calibre to manage their library and leave Wi-Fi off on their readers. I know that’s a small subset of readers, but then again, so is the group that will actually care.

I do wonder how this spyware will play on a PC. I read a horror story about Adobe putting in a bit of spyware that would scan your library and send the details back to Adobe.

I think there will be more interest in open source ereaders free of spyware as time goes on. Would be interesting if Calibre had a mobile ereader. I see there was interest in this years ago:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=199449
But if publishers find a way to worm spyware into the ebooks themselves, then we have a real challenge on our hands to be free from someone looking over our shoulder as we read.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by conan50

I think there will be more interest in open source ereaders free of spyware as time goes on.

I don't think so. Rather, the spyware will just be the new normal. Amazon and Kobo are already doing what this spyware is proposing. And Android, Facebook and to a lesser extent the iPhone are tracking WAY more information than any e-book spyware.

There's only a hue and cry about this because it's 'new'

Originally Posted by conan50

But if publishers find a way to worm spyware into the ebooks themselves, then we have a real challenge on our hands to be free from someone looking over our shoulder as we read.

You could turn the Wi-Fi off

[avantman42]

Originally Posted by conan50

I think there will be more interest in open source ereaders free of spyware as time goes on.

I wouldn't bet on it. Few people use open source on their phones, tablets, or computers. I don't really see any reason why their ereaders would be different in that respect.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by conan50

I think there will be more interest in open source ereaders free of spyware as time goes on. Would be interesting if Calibre had a mobile ereader. I see there was interest in this years ago:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=199449
But if publishers find a way to worm spyware into the ebooks themselves, then we have a real challenge on our hands to be free from someone looking over our shoulder as we read.

I disagree:

How many people use Chrome?

How many use Gmail?

How many use Facebook?

How many buy Kindle ebooks?

[conan50]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I disagree:

How many people use Chrome?

How many use Gmail?

How many use Facebook?

How many buy Kindle ebooks?

You may be right. It is a scary thought that people will get more and more used to companies looking over their shoulder, tracking their every move, knowing which chapter of an ebook they lingered over, etc. More intrusion may become the norm, and sadly, people may indeed get used to it. I hope not, but we are probably headed there and people will probably go along with it

a next step in a continuous process of making operating systems more connected, and to make data collection and analysis more extensive.

http://arstechnica.com/information-t...All+content%29

Syncing files to OneDrive or Google Drive is useful, but it creates some privacy exposure. Using a Microsoft Account to log in to Windows, sync settings between PCs, and have access to the same apps, or using a Google account to log in to ChromeOS, for the same benefits, are both useful things, but they carry a privacy trade-off.

The above applies just as easily to syncing books across ebook services like Kindle, etc.

[Freeshadow]

And just to remember that there was once an uproar about MS documents archiving more data about the machine they were made on than needed. (like what printers you do have)
Long way from savvy and careful users we are now.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

And just to remember that there was once an uproar about MS documents archiving more data about the machine they were made on than needed. (like what printers you do have)
Long way from savvy and careful users we are now.

It's all about value systems.
Different people have different tolerances. A recent survey found that most people would rather have nude photos of them hacked and posted online than have personal financial data exposed. But a lot are the reverse.

As I said above, I don't mind Amazon knowing what books I read (or Microsoft know what printer I have--an HP5L, btw) but I would definitely object to them selling it to a third party or the government.

YMMV.

The only real common ground is informational: everybody should know what is being collected and what happens to it. But expecting everybody to react similarly is a hopeless task.

[conan50]

Libraries continue to struggle with the privacy issue:
http://www.ala.org/news/press-releas...gether-protect
Being of an older generation I feel bad for young people and kids growing up today. From the moment of birth their lives are plastered all over Facebook. School jerks are no longer left behind when the final bell rings, but can torment across social media. I wonder how many kids today have a quiet moment to themselves. They will never have the kind of freedom to not be monitored, to be outside all day without constant supervision. I love technology, but I wonder about the trade-offs.

[DiapDealer]

Being part of an "older" generation (I'm 50), I'm happy to trade a little privacy (the illusion of it we had, anyway) for the conveniences gained. I never valued what little privacy I may have had very much anyway. If I did, I'd resort to reading physical books written by my neighbors on the porch of my off-the-grid cabin. *shrug*

[conan50]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Being part of an "older" generation (I'm 50), I'm happy to trade a little privacy (the illusion of it we had, anyway) for the conveniences gained. I never valued what little privacy I may have had very much anyway. If I did, I'd resort to reading physical books written by my neighbors on the porch of my off-the-grid cabin. *shrug*

You don't have to be paranoid to be concerned about privacy. Privacy is being bartered for convenience. We all have to decide what we are willing to give up, or if we are willing to give up anything for our privacy. We are still at the early stage of techno-spying. There may come a day when none of us are very cavalier about who knows what we read, watch, where we go, and what we do. And there may come a day when what we do freely now could get us fined, labeled, cost us a job, or even lead to us being imprisoned.
There are countries where even now reading certain books can get you thrown in jail.
This is an older article, but found this quote interesting:

Bruce Schneier, a cyber-security expert and author, worries that readers may steer clear of digital books on sensitive subjects such as health, sexuality and security—including his own works—out of fear that their reading is being tracked. "There are a gazillion things that we read that we want to read in private," Mr. Schneier says.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014...90950051438304
The time may not be too far away that Only Digital copies of certain books are produced and available to read. Privacy will always be important to some people.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by conan50

You don't have to be paranoid to be concerned about privacy. Privacy is being bartered for convenience. We all have to decide what we are willing to give up, or if we are willing to give up anything for our privacy. We are still at the early stage of techno-spying. There may come a day when none of us are very cavalier about who knows what we read, watch, where we go, and what we do. And there may come a day when what we do freely now could get us fined, labeled, cost us a job, or even lead to us being imprisoned.
There are countries where even now reading certain books can get you thrown in jail.

I'm not interested in discussing it all that much. Suffice to say: I'm not fooling myself about anything (my eyes are wide open). I just don't place much value on what others seem to get all worked up about "losing." I don't think we ever "had" it in the first place, to be quite frank. You proselytizing about how valuable our privacy should be to us just doesn't move me. It's nothing personal; it's just what ftorres said: we have different value systems. Yours isn't mine and vice versa. So it goes.

My concerns about the practice being discussed in this thread are based exclusively on security. I don't care in the slightest what someone might try to glean about my reading habits. I care about whether or not the mechanisms for collecting said data leave my device vulnerable to virus/trojans, malware and rootkits.

[conan50]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'm not interested in discussing it all that much. Suffice to say: I'm not fooling myself about anything (my eyes are wide open). I just don't place much value on what others seem to get all worked up about "losing." I don't think we ever "had" it in the first place, to be quite frank. You proselytizing about how valuable our privacy should be to us just doesn't move me. It's nothing personal; it's just what ftorres said: we have different value systems. Yours isn't mine and vice versa. So it goes.

My concerns about the practice being discussed in this thread are based exclusively on security. I don't care in the slightest what someone might try to glean about my reading habits. I care about whether or not the mechanisms for collecting said data leave my device vulnerable to virus/trojans, malware and rootkits.

Fair enough. I would point out that all the information gathered, when not secured, could become a potential security problem for you, either if that info is hacked, or the company goes defunct and decides to sell off your info. Do we really know the extent of the information collected from all these services?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by conan50

Fair enough. I would point out that all the information gathered, when not secured, could become a potential security problem for you, either if that info is hacked, or the company goes defunct and decides to sell off your info. Do we really know the extent of the information collected from all these services?

No. We don't know what we don't know.