Ebooks can tell which novels you didn't finish

[JSWolf]

If I turn WiFi on, does a Kindle and/or a Kobo phone home to tell about what I've been reading?

[eschwartz]

If the book was purchased from them, definitely.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

If the book was purchased from them, definitely.

But side loaded?

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But side loaded?

It is technologically feasible, but we don't have any reason to think they do it.
Well, except for Adobe Digital Editions.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

It is technologically feasible, but we don't have any reason to think they do it.
Well, except for Adobe Digital Editions.

A Kindle will phone home when a sideloaded book came from Amazon and only the DRM was removed.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

A Kindle will phone home when a sideloaded book came from Amazon and only the DRM was removed.

That is not what people mean by sideloaded.

Lawyer explanations, while fun, merely confuse the issue.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

That is not what people mean by sideloaded.

Lawyer explanations, while fun, merely confuse the issue.

Depends. Everything that has a real or fake ASIN gets logged. No matter which account it originally came from. That is impossible though, as no DRM removed ebook should ever end up in your hands when it wasn't yours to begin with.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Depends. Everything that has a real or fake ASIN gets logged. No matter which account it originally came from. That is impossible though, as no DRM removed ebook should ever end up in your hands when it wasn't yours to begin with.

Actually you are wrong. I routinely transfer books from the accounts of family members to my Kindle or the Kindle of a family member. Seems fairly Fair Use to me... and Amazon in their exalted state did not see fit to enable Family Library in the Cloud where it'd do some good, so our Kindles are locked out from doing it the "right" way.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Actually you are wrong. I routinely transfer books from the accounts of family members to my Kindle or the Kindle of a family member. Seems fairly Fair Use to me... and Amazon in their exalted state did not see fit to enable Family Library in the Cloud where it'd do some good, so our Kindles are locked out from doing it the "right" way.

Fine, you win. I still consider family members yours though - and fair play applies when asking me.

Let's not get into it far enough to spell out immoral activities that shouldn't be discussed here on MR. Plus it can be used to sync real sideloaded content that did not originate at Amazon. The ASIN might not be enough to sync between devices that are not uploaded to the cloud, but only sideloaded to multiple devices.

[eschwartz]

I suspect "real" sideloaded books with forged ASINs will only attempt to upload data on you if the forged ASIN matches a book registered to your Kindle Cloud.
But obviously it was more fun to talk about than test.

In such a case, I am happy to call it an honest mistake on Amazon's part. The user in question tricked their Kindle into uploading it...

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I suspect "real" sideloaded books with forged ASINs will only attempt to upload data on you if the forged ASIN matches a book registered to your Kindle Cloud.
But obviously it was more fun to talk about than test.

In such a case, I am happy to call it an honest mistake on Amazon's part. The user in question tricked their Kindle into uploading it...

And how do you suspect it does that? Check with the server first for each ASIN whether it is in the cloud? The Kindle has to log each book since it can't know what is in the cloud if sideloaded with wifi off. Do you suspect the Kindle downloads a list of all books in cloud and then filter through which data to send?

[eschwartz]

The Kindle already knows which books you have in the cloud, and downloads that list in order to track the contents of the Cloud tab.

This is why when you try to delete a book with an ASIN that matches your Kindle Cloud, it says "Remove from Device", and when it is a sideloaded book with no ASIN (or an auto-generated UUID one) it says "Delete This Book".

This happens regardless of your current connectivity status.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

The Kindle already knows which books you have in the cloud, and downloads that list in order to track the contents of the Cloud tab.

This is why when you try to delete a book with an ASIN that matches your Kindle Cloud, it says "Remove from Device", and when it is a sideloaded book with no ASIN (or an auto-generated UUID one) it says "Delete This Book".

This happens regardless of your current connectivity status.

Actually no. I just tried it out, and it definitely does not work as you made sound. I bought a book (any one that doesn't cost any money will do) and selected the "download via PC" option - so that I could sideload it onto my PW without having wifi on. Once sideloaded it shows the "delete this book" when going to the info page (wifi is still off). The PW does not know that the book was already in my cloud. Then I turned wifi on and synced. Now the info page shows correctly "remove from device" instead.

So the only thing that happens regardless of connectivity status is a book that is not in the cloud always shows "delete this book".

[eschwartz]

You wil find I am correct, if you turn off WiFi again. I thought I pointed out with enough clarity that that list is downloaded separate from the book itself, but perhaps I am wrong.
I assure you though, that I did not say this without hard knowledge that it works as I said.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

You wil find I am correct, if you turn off WiFi again. I thought I pointed out with enough clarity that that list is downloaded separate from the book itself, but perhaps I am wrong.
I assure you though, that I did not say this without hard knowledge that it works as I said.

That is if you sideload the book via wifi. There is still the usb cable option with wifi turned off - that is when the Kindle does not know that the book is already in cloud. Every time wifi is turned on, a new list is downloaded or gets updated.

Edit: to clarify what I said in my last post. After sideloading is done with usb cable and wifi off that book's status will be "not in cloud" until the next sync is done - automatic once wifi is turned on.