HipType wants to spy on your reading

[BeccaPrice]

http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...ts/#more-37157

Hiptype is coming out of the shadows today, and they’re pitching themselves as the “Google Analytics for ebooks”. This start up has developed a new platform which will let publishers know virtually everything about your reading habits as well as personal details like your location, age, and income. Basically it’s going to let publishers know all the juicy details that Amazon, B&N, and Kobo have but don’t share.

Publishers can get the data by first signing up with Hiptype and adding a script to their ebooks before they’re released to distributors and ebookstores. Hiptype is offering a free script for publisher’s first ebook, and they’re charging a monthly fee of $20 to $100 for the various packages, with the higher prices offering greater detail on a larger number of readers.

...

The Hiptype platform doesn’t work everywhere, and in fact it has only been stated to work in iBooks. It won’t work on the Kindle or the Nook platforms because the script involved is written in JavaScript. Neither the Kindle format nor Epub support JavaScript, and if that little bit of code won’t run then there’s no way for the info to get to Hiptypes servers (good).

But the platform is expected to expand beyond iBooks as more apps and devices add support for Epub3. Right now Epub3 support is limited to Readium and iBooks, though I do expect more apps to be released later this year.

I wonder whether the Tools will be able to strip this type of script from a book? all the more reason to never turn on my wifi.

[teh603]

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

I wonder whether the Tools will be able to strip this type of script from a book? all the more reason to never turn on my wifi.

It'll probably be in an upcoming Calibre release.

I only turned on my Story HD's wifi to get system updates, anyway. Too much battery drain.

[Kali Yuga]

News flash: Pretty much everything you do digitally can be tracked along those lines.

Search engines use your search history to target results; Google scans your email to send you appropriate ads; Netflix knows not just what's in your queue, and what you've watched, but what parts of what movies you've watched. Credit card companies also track your purchases.

And yes, ebook retailers are certainly doing the same thing.

If you don't want to be tracked, then buy paper books in a physical store, pay with cash, and never mention it to anyone.

[jgaiser]

Stay off the internet. Don't use credit cards. Don't sign up for magazine subscriptions. Don't use loyalty cards. Lock your doors and never leave. Yeehaa.

[BeccaPrice]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Stay off the internet. Don't use credit cards. Don't sign up for magazine subscriptions. Don't use loyalty cards. Lock your doors and never leave. Yeehaa.

I think that's excessive, but I also think the "track everything, data mine for ads" is excessive. I use adblock plus, use do not track plus, won't use gmail (even though it is arguably superior to what I currently use), and mostly don't turn on the wifi on my kindle, and side-load everything.

[AndrewH]

Meh.

If this somehow impacts me in the real world then maybe I can muster some indignation.

[spindlegirl]

I only buy DRM-free and sideload everything - I explode the epub and edit edit edit, and re-convert books, and don't use wifi.
The article makes me glad I do.

And as far as legal concerns go, Hiptype emphasizes that the first time someone opens an ebook that uses a Hiptype script they’ll be shown a short privacy notice. Readers will also have the option to opt out at any time.

I agree with the commenter on the article who said that books with Hiptype better have the "privacy notice" before PURCHASING.

After purchasing and after opening the e-book is NOT going to make customers happy.

[covingtoncat73]

Come on, people, Minority Report and 1984 were not instruction manuals.

[elemenoP]

>Basically it’s going to let publishers know all the juicy details that Amazon, B&N, and Kobo have but don’t share.<

Why the assumption that Amazon et al are not sharing the data they receive with publishers? I believe they are.

eP

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

>Basically it’s going to let publishers know all the juicy details that Amazon, B&N, and Kobo have but don’t share.<

Why the assumption that Amazon et al are not sharing the data they receive with publishers? I believe they are.

Why on earth would they? It is incredibly valuable.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

Search engines use your search history to target results; Google scans your email to send you appropriate ads; Netflix knows not just what's in your queue, and what you've watched, but what parts of what movies you've watched. Credit card companies also track your purchases.

Plus Google generously offer public DNS services, so they can track every website you ever visit, just in case you aren't using Chrome yet

[elemenoP]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Why on earth would they? It is incredibly valuable.

That was my impression (that Amazon is sharing this sort of data with publishers) based on a conversation I had with someone who works in marketing for a big six publisher.

But let's put it another way. If this information is so very valuable and the retailers want to protect, why on earth would the retailers allow this script to go into the files? All this information is being tracked already, there's nothing new here.

eP

[RainingLemur]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Stay off the internet. Don't use credit cards. Don't sign up for magazine subscriptions. Don't use loyalty cards. Lock your doors and never leave. Yeehaa.

Am I S.O.L if I don't have any tinfoil for my hat?

[JoeD]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Stay off the internet. Don't use credit cards. Don't sign up for magazine subscriptions. Don't use loyalty cards. Lock your doors and never leave. Yeehaa.

Just because you accept or agree to one reduction in privacy, does not mean you agree to all of them. Likewise, complaining about one loss of privacy does not mean you disagree with all reductions. Privacy is always a question of balance.

The data credit card companies log when you use them is information necessary for providing the service e.g The store knows what you bought and must do so for stock keeping and to deal with returns, the cc company knows how much you spent in total and where but not exactly what you bought which is again data they need to provide the service.

Loyalty cards are a better example of the privacy balance. You don't have to use them, but if you do, you accept a reduction in privacy though the logging of everything you've purchased in return for a reduction in the price of items you buy. Or google mail, where using the free service means you accept a reduction of privacy by google scanning your mails for advertising purposes, but pay for the business version of apps and you can disable it. You get something in return for the reduction of privacy.

This logging of ebook usage however is one sided and I'll not buy any books that use it (even though I could just edit out the script, not to mention it won't work on the kindle which is my current reader).

It's not information essential to the provision of the service and as such I'd only accept it if they offer a reduction in the price of the book, or let you accumulate reward points in return for letting them log this data AND it's optional and can be opted out upon opening the book (or ideally set as a global off preference in the readers).

There's been a lot of fuss in the EU with regards to tracking cookies and analytics, the ebook analytics would imo fall under the same (or should if it doesn't) rules. Although they sadly watered it down at the last minute to allow implied consent which if they show a privacy warning when you first open the book and a way to opt-out, then that's likely enough to get through via implied consent

Edit: and yes I'm aware of amazon having this ability, since I have bookmark syncing enabled they could data mine that for all sorts of purposes. I'm hoping they don't but as previously mentioned, it's a trade off, they provide a convenient service at the risk of a bit of a loss of privacy. I hope though that they're only using that data for the purposes they've actually stated even though we've no real way to know for sure.

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by RainingLemur

Am I S.O.L if I don't have any tinfoil for my hat?

Naaah... use wire mesh instead or gold leaf if incredibly wealthy and paranoid...