What's with the Paranoia?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by haertig

Probably true, for retailers like Amazon. But there are other players in the game. Seems like every week we are reading about some major companies database being hacked. Data about you - seemingly harmless data - can be collected and consolidated. What would they find out about me, the innocuous stuff? They'd find that I like Star Trek. I was heavy into it at one time. That seems like "I don't care" data, doesn't it? Except for some smart hacker thinking, "I wonder if this guy has a password related to Star Trek?" And you know what, I *did* (at one time). I think about this now, and back then I was really stupid to do that. It was not something that a human would guess easily, however if even a low end PC had been tasked with combining words from Star Trek episode names, common sayings by Star Trek characters, and other related Star Trek trivia - that PC would have been able to guess my password in a matter of seconds probably, just by brute force. This is an example of innocuous data being used in not-so-innocuous ways. It's a simple extension of the password guessing programs that used to try spouse names, addresses, kids names, pets names, telephone numbers, etc. Never use any of that type of stuff in your passwords, even if it makes them easier for you to remember. All that data about you has already been harvested, consolidated and shared between hacking software programs. If the info relates to you in any way, no matter how small and inconsequential, it does not belong anywhere near your password.

I remember the days when people would write their social security number on checks. That was common back then, and people did it all the time without thinking about it. Who nowadays would consider that a safe thing to do?

These days, some hacker might get info on me from Amazon after an online breach of their database. They would easily be able to determine that my favorite author is James Rollins. Were I still as naive as I once was, I might have chosen a password like "51gmaF0rc3", a minor re-spelling of "Sigma Force", the secret agency that Rollins likes to write about. "Sigma Force" would be a bad password in anybody's book, but it would be horrendously bad for someone known to like the author James Rollins - information that Amazon has collected about me.

BTW, this is not paranoid stuff that I'm just making up myself. I learned all about this before I retired and was working in computer networking and security. From classes, presentations, and technical papers on information security.

For all of you out there, how many have passwords that relate at least in part to "your favorite this or that"? And how easy would it be to determine what your particular "this or that" is from "innocuous" online tracking of you? This doesn't describe everybody, but for every person smugly saying "That's not me!" there will be a matching person saying, "Crap, this guy is right!"

No need to drag this thread off any further into good vs bad passwords - I just used password guessing as an example of how apparently harmless information gathered about you could be used to harm you.

So do you have an account at Amazon? Do you have an account at other shops that sell eBooks? If you do have an Amazon account, then having your Kindle registered is not going to make one single bit of difference between having an Amazon account and an unregistered Kindle. If you don't want Amazon or Kobo or anyone else to know what you are reading, then keep WiFi off and don't read with a phone, tablet, or computer. Just read with a Kindle with WiFi off or any other Reader with WiFi off.

There's not a lot you can do to keep private. As soon as you buy an eBook, you've given some information to some store. As I buy from Kobo and Amazon, they have my information anyway even if I wasn't registered with them.

I know stores have had data breaches, but it's not possible to shop at every store without giving some information. Do you pay cash for every purchase at stores you visit? Do you never use your bank card or credit card (if you have one)? Do you never give your name, email address, And address (sometimes) to any website or store? Do you never buy anything online?

It's not convenient to keep 100% private and depending on what you you want to buy, not possible.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by hildea

Thanks to Difflugia for answering my question about which features I'd get with registering an ereader, by the way

With Kobo, the Reader has to be registered to be able to use it. I don't know about some of the other brands (such as Onyx or Pocketbook) what you can/cannot do if you don't register.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Simply put, many of us don't care. Let them track.

Yes, I've used DuckDuckGo occasionally. But it's not as good as Google Search. It consistently gives me fewer results. So I've returned to Google every time.

I don't use social media. At all. Not because of privacy, but I just hate it. It's noisy, and I don't mean audibly. It's like being in a room with lots of people, which I also hate. No can do. But I'm certainly not giving up Gmail, Google Search and other things which make my life convenient and comfortable.

Some people value digital privacy more than others. Some value speed and convenience more than others.

And some (IMHO) give up too much to keep private. They may as well go live in a cave.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

They may as well go live in a cave.

Caves are rare here in Colorado. Definitely not enough to meet the demand. I haven't found one single underground abode that has internet. What to do, what to do...

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by haertig

Caves are rare here in Colorado. Definitely not enough to meet the demand. I haven't found one single underground abode that has internet. What to do, what to do...

Isn't the main purpose of living in a cave to live offline? Think about how terribly internet with all its evils would invade your privacy.

[haertig]

That's true. A cave with internet, webcams and social media is kind of stupid. I guess that's why I couldn't find any.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by haertig

Caves are rare here in Colorado. Definitely not enough to meet the demand. I haven't found one single underground abode that has internet. What to do, what to do...

Oh no. You can't have Internet access because of privacy concerns. The Internet is too insecure for the privacy you require.

[hildea]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Simply put, many of us don't care. Let them track.

Sure, I get that. I'm not saying I'm expecting others to do as I do, I'm simply trying to explain my view. My post was an attempt to answer posts like your #47 and JSWolf's #33, where you seem puzzled that others prefer some improvement in privacy, even if it's not complete.

Some people value digital privacy more than others. Some value speed and convenience more than others.

Yes, exactly. But the tone in this thread from some of the pro-registering people seems almost hostile. Why?

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I don't know about some of the other brands (such as Onyx or Pocketbook) what you can/cannot do if you don't register.

With Pocketbook, registering will let me buy books from my ereader at at bookstore with mostly books in Russian or Ukrainian, and access from my ereader to a Goodreads/Storygraph/Librarything-kind of social network that I've never heard of elsewhere. (Note: My ereader is a few years old, this may have changed.) In other words, I'm not making any kind of sacrifice by not registering.

[Gandulf]

I guess I am old school, I buy something, it is mine they must ask me if they can track what I do on the device.

With cell phone apps, why do they want access to my photos and contacts etc? I just don't use the apps as I don't like spam and don't think it right that someone else get spam because they sold my contract info.

[John F]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

With Kobo, the Reader has to be registered to be able to use it. I don't know about some of the other brands (such as Onyx or Pocketbook) what you can/cannot do if you don't register.

In case someone new to Kobo is reading the above...

I believe that technically the above is "true", you can "register" with a fake email address or by inserting a row into a database.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by Gandulf

With cell phone apps, why do they want access to my photos and contacts etc?

In the old days (of Android) you didn't know why an app wanted these permissions, and didn't have any choices other than (1) grant it all the permissions it asks for, or (2) don't install the app.

With newer versions of Android you still don't know why the app wants these permissions (at first), but at least you can deny individual permissions after you have installed the app. I do this all the time - install the app, then immediately after installation I deny almost all the permissions it had asked for unless I see an obvious reason for that permission. I then try the app and see what works and what doesn't. When something doesn't work, Android pops up a text box saying the app needs such-and-such permission to complete the task that is currently failing. At that time I can decide if I want the app doing that or not, and either grant or continue withholding that permission. Or uninstall the app completely as untrustworthy if what I am trying to do with it does not correlate with the permission it is trying to get - e.g., I am trying to save a photo to the flash card and it is wanting access to my contact list.

Big improvement over the old days! There are a few good reasons not to cling to an older version of an operating system. This is an example of one such good reason. I don't routinely upgrade unless I see some bug fix of new feature that is important to me. Better and more fine-grained handling of app permissions was a big motivator to upgrade for me.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by John F

In case someone new to Kobo is reading the above...

I believe that technically the above is "true", you can "register" with a fake email address or by inserting a row into a database.

But there has been a case of a firmware update breaking the fake registration and you had to start over and register. I don't know how long it took to get a new fake registration working. It could happen again. You just don't know. A real registration has never been broken due to a firmware update. And once that update takes place, any new firmware will break the currently installed fake registration.

[John F]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But there has been a case of a firmware update breaking the fake registration and you had to start over and register. I don't know how long it took to get a new fake registration working. It could happen again. You just don't know. A real registration has never been broken due to a firmware update. And once that update takes place, any new firmware will break the currently installed fake registration.

So, one example, in how many years and how many firmware versions. And this community responds fairly quickly to problems; I'm guessing some kind soul would be willing to post the new insert string. And you could still use the "fake" email to "register", if someone was so desperate

Could you provide a link to when this happened, I don't recall the discussion.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by John F

So, one example, in how many years and how many firmware versions. And this community responds fairly quickly to problems; I'm guessing some kind soul would be willing to post the new insert string. And you could still use the "fake" email to "register", if someone was so desperate

It doesn't matter how long it was since the fake registration was broken. The issue is that it could happen again and you would lose your database as you would have to start over. And until a new fake registration was discovered, you would have to either forgo reading or properly register.

[John F]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It doesn't matter how long it was since the fake registration was broken. The issue is that it could happen again and you would lose your database as you would have to start over. ...

You may not be aware of it, but there is this thing called Calibre. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

... And until a new fake registration was discovered, you would have to either forgo reading or properly register.

And by "properly register" you mean a fake email address.

Also thank you for warning all the people who are currently not registering. I would guess that if they are intelligent enough to work around registering, they are intelligent enough to figure out when they want to upgrade.