Disable Ads on 79$ Kindle 4

[abishur]

Like I said, I don't feel as if it *is* morally ambiguous. I actually rationalized my behavior far before I ever did it, not after the fact. If I wasn't convinced that it was acceptable I wouldn't have done it. But again, as I said, it's pointless to jump into a thread whose whole point is to disable ads and claim you have the higher moral ground because you didn't do this. The people reading this thread to figure out how to do it obviously inherently disagree with you on the morality of the issue and it just needlessly stirs up trouble.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by abishur

The people reading this thread to figure out how to do it obviously inherently disagree with you on the morality of the issue and it just needlessly stirs up trouble.

Perhaps... but "trolling" is just so much FUN!

Of course, trolling is more appropriate in political discussion groups.

DNFTT, as they say:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNFTT

[Morpheus Phreak]

Originally Posted by abishur

Like I said, I don't feel as if it *is* morally ambiguous. I actually rationalized my behavior far before I ever did it, not after the fact. If I wasn't convinced that it was acceptable I wouldn't have done it. But again, as I said, it's pointless to jump into a thread whose whole point is to disable ads and claim you have the higher moral ground because you didn't do this. The people reading this thread to figure out how to do it obviously inherently disagree with you on the morality of the issue and it just needlessly stirs up trouble.

Indeed. I stand corrected. It's not morally ambiguous. It's morally abhorrent.

It's buying a device that is subsidized by ad revenue and then purposefully disabling those ad's via a non-supported method in order to steal $30 away from a corporation.

I've reported the thread. I doubt mobileread wants to receive C&D letters from Amazon. Last post on this subject (at least in this thread) from me.

[abishur]

Actually, I was reading on another thread that someone else tagged threads like these and always received the response back of something to the tune of "Amazon doesn't care so we're not removing it" which is half the reason I don't mind removing the ads.

[demonseye316]

Originally Posted by JuanPi

I did it in a Kindle Touch and I think it's working. I already registered and I'm surfing!

how did you do it on the kindle touch? there's no shift key. and even if i check show hidden folders and drives is see no system folder on the kindle touch.

by the way can you reset it again to factory defaults?

[demonseye316]

oops my bad about the shift key...i still can't see the system folder on the k touch.

[abishur]

I did it with the kindle touch as well, but I had to use ikiller's method

I don't know why you're not seeing the system folder. I'm using windows and have show hidden files and folders and it's sitting in the root folder of the kindle when I plug it in.

I've had to reset it to factory defaults several times while playing around with it with no damage done to the kindle. The only down side is that you have to re-disable the ads.

[abishur]

On additional thing I've discovered is Amazon has a nasty tendency of recreating the adunits folder, but if you chmod the permission on the adunits folder itself then rather than getting a nice screeensaver it will stay on the last viewed screen (which can get confusing)

A work around I've discovered (which may prove risky) is to deny write access to all groups of the /var/local/ folder.

go to the var folder then issue the command

chmod a-w local

This will prevent any additional files or folders from being written to the local directory. It will still have access to the sub directories though you should be fine. So far I haven't noticed any issue with having done this.

[jozicka]

Originally Posted by howyoudoin

You had the option of not purchasing the device if that's your thought process. You're rationalising your behaviour after the fact. It doesn't work that way.

On the other hand, the seller has got option of not selling such a donated device.

Your logic means, that if you buy a DVD with a lot of advertisement, you should see all of them (every time), without skipping it (even if your DVD player can play main movie directly), because otherwise you are stealing part of the profit of the DVD distributor..

Or it will be very immoral to go to Cinema (with your children) just before the movie starts, and thus skipping all of these nice advertisement clips.

(and sorry for my bad english).

[yifanlu]

I don't see why there is no much argument on the moral/ethical/legal rights of removing the ads or not. My belief is if you want to do something that you believe is right, then do it. (Now let's not take my words to mean you can justify murder or something, I'm talking about small things like downloading music, removing ads, parking incorrectly, etc). I personally do not think removing ads is right, so I don't do it, but I don't actively criticize others for doing so. On the other hand, if I do think its right, I don't have to justify it to others. What do I lose if some stranger thinks I'm doing something wrong? Now, if you are unsure that what you're doing is right or wrong, feel free to argue, but from what I'm seeing, everyone is either on one polar side or the other.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by yifanlu

...
Now, if you are unsure that what you're doing is right or wrong, feel free to argue, but from what I'm seeing, everyone is either on one polar side or the other.

The only truly important thing here is that we treat others as we wish to be treated (The Golden Rule). Defining the concept of Right and Wrong is what fuels many Religious Arguments and Political Debates, leading to wars, crusades, witch hunts and Jihads, taking the minds and lives of countless victims.

We are participating in an online information sharing community here, so I should think that this whole concept of OWNING information just feels WRONG to most of us. Just look up "Illegal Numbers", for example. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_number

It costs almost nothing to duplicate and share information. Doing something that actually COSTS somebody money, such as hacking 3G so amazon has to pay for your internet bandwidth, is definately stealing. Having the knowledge and ability to do so, especially in an emergency situation, is not wrong. Actually USING that knowledge in a way that hurts amazon is clearly NOT a good thing.

Using a SPAM filter to screen out information that you do not want, is more of a grey area subject to personal choice, as yifanlu said. But that does not give any of us the moral right to try to coerce others into adopting our own personal choices, including whether or not we filter ads. Filtering out advertising is fine to do personally, but publishing methods to encourage others to do it too may hurt amazon financially when advertisers abandon them due to our behavior.

Now, perhaps our overactive population of amateur armchair attorneys could find a forum haunted by IP lawyers, and go there to whine about all those bad hackers with people who welcome their legal opinions on these matters of intellectual "Property"...

But above all else, remember "The Golden Rule", and don't make amazon take away our ability to play with our kindle "eToys".

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

It costs almost nothing to duplicate and share information.

Almost nothing = something.

By contrast, if you shoplift physical books not headed for an additional printing, you may save the business community the cost of returning and pulping that book. So it often costs them less than nothing if you take a physical book against the owners wishes, and yet this you, I gather, oppose.

Doing something that actually COSTS somebody money, such as hacking 3G so amazon has to pay for your internet bandwidth, is definately stealing.

Since the terms of the contract(s) between AT&T and Amazon are not, as far as I can tell, public, this is speculation. It may be a fixed cost multi-year contract.

As you can perhaps see, I don't think looking at the consequences of your acts provides a sufficient basis for morality, although it is part of it.

In the case of hacking the ads off a $79 Kindle, I'd not do it myself. My imperfections lie elsewhere. If hacking off ads is the worst thing some other person ever does, I'd still have a high opinion of them.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Since the terms of the contract(s) between AT&T and Amazon are not, as far as I can tell, public, this is speculation. It may be a fixed cost multi-year contract.

I did see published on amazon.com somewhere awhile back that they were paying Sprint 12 cents/MB. Sprint is still used for CDMA 3G in the US DX (white) and in kindle 2 units. Apparently others have seen the 12 cents/MB too. Here is one: http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle?c...x2TB8HZ7PJ0P5U

I have seen mention that they have a different contract with AT&T where AT&T gets a share of ebook sales in exchanged for decreased 3G traffic cost to amazon.

The lost POTENTIAL revenue from ad hacking (even if widespread) would be a lot less than lost REAL revenue in 3G expenses incurred by widespread use of 3G tethering hacks. Until they get a LOT better at targeting relevant, interesting and useful ads, the potential ad revenue will be hard to realize and ad hacking will not have much impact on the bottom line at amazon.

Another way to look at it is with analogies. Removing ads is like stealing a CD. Stores consider this a cost of doing business and figure it into the retail costs. Publishing a popular 3G tethering hack is like burning down the store. Some businesses do not recover from such a loss.

It really comes down to "will it cost amazon enough to get their attention and make them care enough to clamp down on it" (perhaps by pushing a jailbreak-killer update). Lost ad revenue, maybe not. A huge 3G bill, certainly.

So, you make your choices, but you are not the only one who suffers the consequences of your actions. Enough said on this subject for now, I think. Some people just won't listen anyway. That's why Santa keeps a list.

[geekmaster]

Deleted.

[demonseye316]

abishur thanks for the info. sorry i'm a complete noob so i have to follow these first before ikiller's method right?

http://yifan.lu/2011/12/10/kindle-to...kroot-and-ssh/