How to make a Kobo private and vendor-independent ?

[Odessa]

I bought a Libra mainly to read public-domain ebooks -- not excluding paid-for books. I use Calibre and my Windows 7 PC is my main platform.

How to make sure Kobo and Adobe have as little information as possible on what I do ?

Can Kobo know what non-Kobo books I load on its reader, read my notes, etc ? Do they have the theoretical possibility ? I assume it's unavoidable on Kobo books. Are they known to do it ? What about Adobe ?

How to make sure I can still read my paid-for books if Kobo disappears or closes my account ? What about Adobe ?

I have linked my Libra to my Kobo account, and I don't see any way either to change the email address on the reader, to disconnect it from the account, or to close the account. Attempting to disconnect actually seems to wipe all the Wifi information, and the Wifi password needs to be input again.

Is it possible to de-link the Libra from the Kobo account once it's been linked ? Is it possible to use a Libra without an account ? What are the consequences in both cases ?

Thank you in advance.

[John F]

Maybe browse this thread for eome answers:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...light=register

[JSWolf]

Ignore the fake registration. It's not worth the hassle. Twice Kobo has changed the firmware such that you had to start over losing everything. in the database and all the eBooks on the Reader. This could happen again. Just do a proper registration and save the possible hassle.

[Quoth]

I just used an imaginary email address. But you could use an unimportant real one with no real name or address. It's not like Amazon where you need a working account and either a payment method or a gift voucher is needed.

The kobo is private.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I just used an imaginary email address. But you could use an unimportant real one with no real name or address. It's not like Amazon where you need a working account and either a payment method or a gift voucher is needed.

The kobo is private.

It does sound like the OP buys some eBooks. So it would be best have a Kobo account with a real e-mail address and use that account to register.

[John F]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Ignore the fake registration. It's not worth the hassle. Twice Kobo has changed the firmware such that you had to start over losing everything. in the database and all the eBooks on the Reader. This could happen again. Just do a proper registration and save the possible hassle.

Since the OP is using Calibre, I don't think it woukd be much of a hassle. Just resend the books from Calibre. Maybe a little more hassle if you have patches and other tweaks.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It does sound like the OP buys some eBooks. So it would be best have a Kobo account with a real e-mail address and use that account to register.

From th OP

Originally Posted by Odessa

...

How to make sure Kobo and Adobe have as little information as possible on what I do ?

If the OP wants to limit information given to Kobo, using a fake email address works better than using a real address.

How to make sure I can still read my paid-for books if Kobo disappears or closes my account ? What about Adobe ?

Strip DRM and backup your purchases.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Odessa

Can Kobo know what non-Kobo books I load on its reader, read my notes, etc ? Do they have the theoretical possibility ? I assume it's unavoidable on Kobo books. Are they known to do it ? What about Adobe ?

Kobo does not keep track of books not purchased from Kobo other than pages read and books finished. As for Adobe? There were issues with a couple of versions of ADE that called home and did it in the clear to make matters worse. As near as I can tell, ADE 2.0.1 and ADE 4.5.xx do not do so.

Originally Posted by Odessa

How to make sure I can still read my paid-for books if Kobo disappears or closes my account ? What about Adobe?

Download your books, remove DRM and back them up. I'm not sure why you keep mentioning Adobe since they are not an ebook vendor. Basically, for any vendor, follow the same download, remove DRM and back up.

Originally Posted by Odessa

I have linked my Libra to my Kobo account, and I don't see any way either to change the email address on the reader, to disconnect it from the account, or to close the account. Attempting to disconnect actually seems to wipe all the Wifi information, and the Wifi password needs to be input again.

If you are logging out, that behaviour would be expected. After all, if you are doing this before reselling the Libra, do you want the new owner to use your WiFi.

Originally Posted by Odessa

Is it possible to de-link the Libra from the Kobo account once it's been linked ? Is it possible to use a Libra without an account ? What are the consequences in both cases?

You can easily de-link your Libra. Go to Settings/Accounts and tap on Sign Out. My personal suggestion is that if you don't want your Kobo tied to a real email account is to either create a real free email account for that purpose only or since Kobo does not appear to test or error check an account, create one such as not_a_real_email.nowheres.net.

Oddly, the Kobo that I used a real single purpose email account on has only received one email in it's 6 year existence so I can't say that Kobo is selling email addresses.

OTOH, there have been several times where faking registration by writing to the database has caused issues with later firmware updates.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Download your books, remove DRM and back them up. I'm not sure why you keep mentioning Adobe since they are not an ebook vendor. Basically, for any vendor, follow the same download, remove DRM and back up.

Absolutely. The "Cloud" is just someone else's server, like the 1960s. Data centres burn down and Internet connections break.

Originally Posted by DNSB

Oddly, the Kobo that I used a real single purpose email account on has only received one email in it's 6 year existence so I can't say that Kobo is selling email addresses.

OTOH, there have been several times where faking registration by writing to the database has caused issues with later firmware updates.

About six years here, and I did use a real email address created especially for that Kobo. Zero emails received, except my own test emails.

[Odessa]

Thank you all for your answers.

The fake registration hack is outside of my comfort zone.

I do use unique email addresses for all accounts, so Kobo got its own exclusive address, too.

Originally Posted by DNSB

Kobo does not keep track of books not purchased from Kobo other than pages read and books finished.

So it does track non-Kobo books ? Is that only done locally, by the Libra's software, or is it done on the server ?

What I want to avoid is an Amazon-like situation, where Amazon (not only the Kindle) knows what parts of a book you have highlighted, can lock you out of your books if it bans your account, etc.

Originally Posted by DNSB

I'm not sure why you keep mentioning Adobe since they are not an ebook vendor.

Because in order to read DRM-protected books, even free ones, or to read borrowed books, one has to install Adobe Digital Editions, open an Adobe account, and register one's PC and Kobo reader with Adobe. Which is known to have very privacy-hostile habits.

Originally Posted by DNSB

For any vendor, follow the same download, remove DRM and back up.

So if I use Calibre and the relevant plug-ins, any book, including .kepubs, can be converted into an ordinary .epub not dependent on any user account or link to vendor ?

Originally Posted by DNSB

You can easily de-link your Libra. Go to Settings/Accounts and tap on Sign Out.

Yes, I saw that. However, this does not just sign out of the account. It seems to reset completely the Libra. You then need to re-type the Wifi password, probably do something to connect the account again (I don't remember, and it's so annoying I don't want to do it all over again just to check), and it also seems to reset all settings to default.

In fact, it seems "signing out of the account" prevents you from using the Libra at all. You have to re-do all the set-up from the start before you can read anything.

Also, "signing out of the account" seems to do something different according to whether it's done on the Libra, on Kobo Desktop or in the account itself through a browser.

Doing it through the browser seems to just, well, disconnect from the account. That's expected behaviour.

Trying to do it from Kobo Desktop, however, you get a warning asking you : are you sure, this will delete all highlightings from all your books. Which nobody would want, obviously.

And doing it from the Libra does a third, different set of things, nuking the whole device.

Do you confirm that's indeed how it works ?

Is it possible to use a Libra while having a Kobo account, but not being connected to it ? What would the consequences be ?

What are the consequences of using a Libra without a Kobo account (if at all possible) ?

If I now go into my Kobo account through a browser, and delete the account (which seems to be the only way to do it), what would the consequences be ?

[salamanderjuice]

Once you're past the first time log in page and you've turned off WiFi they can't do anything to track you unless you use the Kobo desktop app to transfer books or buy books off their website. If you just sideload they won't know anything. You can leave WiFi off forever.

As others mentioned using a kobo without an account has led to issues in the past with firmware updates destroying everything. You need to either use the fake registration hack and deal with the consequences or have an account logged in. You can log out to switch accounts or to sell it but to use it, it must be logged in.

Also you may want to consider moving away from Windows 7. Support has ended and its easier for bad actors to exploit exploits as Microsoft is no longer patching them.

[John F]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

...

As others mentioned using a kobo without an account has led to issues in the past with firmware updates destroying everything.
...

IMO, this seems to be overblown. How many posts have we seen complaining about this (from people who have had to actually deal with the problem), vs general advice to try factory reset to solve some other problem.

[salamanderjuice]

How many people use the fake registration hack at all? I imagine it's a tiny fraction of users so any problems seem comparatively tiny.

It's an unnecessary risk. It's completely trivial to make a Kobo account on a temp email which you can use to login once and not have to deal with any potential problems from avoiding registration.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Odessa

So it does track non-Kobo books ? Is that only done locally, by the Libra's software, or is it done on the server ?

What I want to avoid is an Amazon-like situation, where Amazon (not only the Kindle) knows what parts of a book you have highlighted, can lock you out of your books if it bans your account, etc.

Kobo knows nothing about your sideloaded books. There is some usage tracking but, my understanding is that it tracking how you use the device without necessarily tracking what actual books you are reading. This reporting can be turned off in the settings. And if you never connect via WiFi, it won't be uploaded to Kobo.

Because in order to read DRM-protected books, even free ones, or to read borrowed books, one has to install Adobe Digital Editions, open an Adobe account, and register one's PC and Kobo reader with Adobe. Which is known to have very privacy-hostile habits.

If you are buying from Kobo, you can stay away from ADE by using the kepub that is downloaded to the device or via the desktop application. If you are getting DRM protected elsewhere, you will probably need ADE.

So if I use Calibre and the relevant plug-ins, any book, including .kepubs, can be converted into an ordinary .epub not dependent on any user account or link to vendor ?

Calibre, with the right plugins, can convert any DRM free book between the supported formats. That include kepubs.

Yes, I saw that. However, this does not just sign out of the account. It seems to reset completely the Libra. You then need to re-type the Wifi password, probably do something to connect the account again (I don't remember, and it's so annoying I don't want to do it all over again just to check), and it also seems to reset all settings to default.

In fact, it seems "signing out of the account" prevents you from using the Libra at all. You have to re-do all the set-up from the start before you can read anything.

That is correct. The Kobo devices need to be setup to work using their software.

Also, "signing out of the account" seems to do something different according to whether it's done on the Libra, on Kobo Desktop or in the account itself through a browser.

Doing it through the browser seems to just, well, disconnect from the account. That's expected behaviour.

Trying to do it from Kobo Desktop, however, you get a warning asking you : are you sure, this will delete all highlightings from all your books. Which nobody would want, obviously.

And doing it from the Libra does a third, different set of things, nuking the whole device.

Do you confirm that's indeed how it works ?

When you sign out of the account on the device or the desktop application, it removes all the account related information from the device or PC. It deletes the books and any settings. When you sign out of the account in the browser, it is doing the same thing but, in the context of the browser. It doesn't do anything with the account. Kobo still has all the details they collected and the books you bought from them. You have just severed the links between the computer or device and Kobo.

If you want to get rid of the account, there is a "Deactivate Account" button in the account settings in the store.

Is it possible to use a Libra while having a Kobo account, but not being connected to it ? What would the consequences be ?

What are the consequences of using a Libra without a Kobo account (if at all possible) ?

If I now go into my Kobo account through a browser, and delete the account (which seems to be the only way to do it), what would the consequences be ?

That should delete the account, remove your access to any books. Anything signed into that account should then stop having access. I would hope that the next time the device tried to sync, it would sign the device out of the account an trigger the setup. But, I don't know as I have no need, or desire for that matter, to actually do this.

[John F]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

How many people use the fake registration hack at all? I imagine it's a tiny fraction of users so any problems seem comparatively tiny.

It's an unnecessary risk. It's completely trivial to make a Kobo account on a temp email which you can use to login once and not have to deal with any potential problems from avoiding registration.

What are the advantages of creating a temp email (I assume you mean create an actual email account)? Why not just use a fake email address?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by John F

What are the advantages of creating a temp email (I assume you mean create an actual email account)? Why not just use a fake email address?

Because if you ever want to purchase eBooks from Kobo, they need a valid email address to sent the receipt. So use a real email address. You could create one just for the Kobo account using Outlook or Gmail.