Is sideloading as simple as a drag-n-drop?

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by sealbeater

I don't believe in rewarding bad behaviour. Why would they require me to have to go online even once in order to use a product I paid for? There are other offerings that don't require me to use wifi or **register**, which should be a dirty word for anyone. There is surely no technical reason so why? Why do they care? I don't know or care, I just know how to protect my privacy and there's no reason at all for me to knowingly sacrifice it.

My Onyx works just fine without registration or wifi and so do my Sony ereaders. They'll get my money, not Kobo.

Why not just put in a fake name? Kobo doesn't require a credit card.

Spoiler:

Or is it like I told a sociology professor once lying would be unethical.

[sealbeater]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Why not just put in a fake name? Kobo doesn't require a credit card.

Spoiler:

Or is it like I told a sociology professor once lying would be unethical.

Because if the company has the mindset that it's ok to force users to register via wifi (which reveals a bit more about you than your name) then there is no reason to think the device isn't untrustworthy towards my privacy in other ways.

I shouldn't have to fake any of my information to use hardware I paid for.

[doubleshuffle]

Originally Posted by DNSB

From what height would you recommend dropping the dragon? Is the height different for mobi or AZW3?

We can fly, you know, so dropping-off height doesn't really matter much. But I wouldn't recommend trying.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by sealbeater

Because if the company has the mindset that it's ok to force users to register via wifi (which reveals a bit more about you than your name) then there is no reason to think the device isn't untrustworthy towards my privacy in other ways.

I shouldn't have to fake any of my information to use hardware I paid for.

The problem is they aren't selling a device. They are selling a service. For you to use that service, registration is required. If you don't want to use that service, then the Kobo device is obviously not for you, and Kobo have no reason to support anyone not wanting registering.

Having said that, Kobo makes absolutely no attempt to validate the registration. They only require that the email address you put in looks like an email address. I know that doesn't pass your rules, but it does mean the device can be used without any real interaction with Kobo.

[sealbeater]

Originally Posted by davidfor

The problem is they aren't selling a device. They are selling a service. For you to use that service, registration is required.
If you don't want to use that service, then the Kobo device is obviously not for you, and Kobo have no reason to support anyone not wanting registering.

Obviously. However, they are selling hardware. Most attempts to tie hardware to services fail and rightly so. If someone is planning on side-loading books, they certainly aren't looking for a service.

All I need is an e-reader. I'm quite happy to not give Kobo money for their service and I'm sorry for anyone who had to sacrifice their privacy to read.

Originally Posted by davidfor

Having said that, Kobo makes absolutely no attempt to validate the registration. They only require that the email address you put in looks like an email address. I know that doesn't pass your rules, but it does mean the device can be used without any real interaction with Kobo.

Let's be clear. When you register your device, they are getting and keeping and analyzing and indexing and cross-referencing an lot more than an non-existent email address.

The very fact that they don't care what email address you use just that you "register" the device should tell you they are tracking other stuff.

According to https://www.eff.org/pages/reader-privacy-chart-2012

The Kobo "seems to have the capability to keep track of book searches because it indicates that it shares those searches with third parties".

All of this is behavior you have agreed to and condone with your purchasing power.


Now, feel free. People should just know what they are getting into.

[barryem]

I guess if you're looking for a reason not to buy a Kobo then you've found one. I never buy books from Kobo. I do have an account with them since I bought my first Kobo directly from them but I've never used that account. I've since bought 3 Kobos from Ebay and used some sort of invented email address to register it, not for security reasons but because I didn't remember what address I'd originally used. That worked just fine.

I think I used the name barry@aol.com or some such to register my recent ones. That isn't a valid email address.

It's all a non-issue unless you're just eager to have an issue. Then, of course, it will serve.

Barry

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by sealbeater

Obviously. However, they are selling hardware. Most attempts to tie hardware to services fail and rightly so. If someone is planning on side-loading books, they certainly aren't looking for a service.

All I need is an e-reader. I'm quite happy to not give Kobo money for their service and I'm sorry for anyone who had to sacrifice their privacy to read.



Let's be clear. When you register your device, they are getting and keeping and analyzing and indexing and cross-referencing an lot more than an non-existent email address.

The very fact that they don't care what email address you use just that you "register" the device should tell you they are tracking other stuff.

According to https://www.eff.org/pages/reader-privacy-chart-2012

The Kobo "seems to have the capability to keep track of book searches because it indicates that it shares those searches with third parties".

All of this is behavior you have agreed to and condone with your purchasing power.


Now, feel free. People should just know what they are getting into.

Ok interest peaked. Please name me one hardware that came with services and failed completely.

[sealbeater]

Originally Posted by barryem

It's all a non-issue unless you're just eager to have an issue. Then, of course, it will serve.

Barry

There's no issue. I stated I would never buy one and when asked why, I explained why. People can make their own choices. Assuming they are in possession of the facts.

Interestingly, I have several ebook readers that didn't require me to put in an email address, fake or otherwise, in order to use them. Caveat emptor

[sealbeater]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Ok interest peaked. Please name me one hardware that came with services and failed completely.

Perhaps the most famous example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

We can fly, you know, so dropping-off height doesn't really matter much. But I wouldn't recommend trying.

Hmmm.... Meddle not in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and will taste good with ketchup.

[sjfan]

Originally Posted by sealbeater

Obviously. However, they are selling hardware. Most attempts to tie hardware to services fail and rightly so. If someone is planning on side-loading books, they certainly aren't looking for a service.

All I need is an e-reader. I'm quite happy to not give Kobo money for their service and I'm sorry for anyone who had to sacrifice their privacy to read.



Let's be clear. When you register your device, they are getting and keeping and analyzing and indexing and cross-referencing an lot more than an non-existent email address.

The very fact that they don't care what email address you use just that you "register" the device should tell you they are tracking other stuff.

According to https://www.eff.org/pages/reader-privacy-chart-2012

The Kobo "seems to have the capability to keep track of book searches because it indicates that it shares those searches with third parties".

That's for searches on their store (which will not happen with wi-fi off), not for searches on your device. Amazon tracks searches on the Kindle store the same way, as do most other store. Kobo also allows you to turn off reading stat tracking entirely under preferences.

I've never registered on their site or used their desktop app (as I mentioned above, you don't need to; just put a bogus line in the local user database and you're good to go), and wi-fi is always off on my reader. It has no networking capability outside of that, so no way to transmit info (personal or otherwise) to Kobo—the only way it's ever got any connectivity is exposing itself as a storage device so I can copy books onto it from Calibre on my Linux desktop.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by sealbeater

Perhaps the most famous example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat

Even worse than the failure was it was free.
Though as far as bar code scanners, I think there is an app for that now.

[sealbeater]

Originally Posted by sjfan

That's for searches on their store (which will not happen with wi-fi off), not for searches on your device.

Where do you see that distinction?

Originally Posted by sjfan

Amazon tracks searches on the Kindle store the same way, as do most other store. Kobo also allows you to turn off reading stat tracking entirely under preferences.

That's also why I don't have a Kindle.

They may allow you to turn off, maybe, but the point is that they are gathering info when you register, regardless. Once again, they are getting a bit more then any fake email addresses you can come up with. If that's fine with people, enjoy. It's not fine with me.

Originally Posted by sjfan

I've never registered on their site or used their desktop app (as I mentioned above, you don't need to; just put a bogus line in the local user database and you're good to go), and wi-fi is always off on my reader. It has no networking capability outside of that, so no way to transmit info (personal or otherwise) to Kobo—the only way it's ever got any connectivity is exposing itself as a storage device so I can copy books onto it from Calibre on my Linux desktop.

I get and completely understand that. I just make the choice not to buy hardware that requires me to mess with sqlite just to use it. I also chose not to support companies financially that sell my info. I'm glad you and others have found ways to get around the hardware limitations, as people always do.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by sealbeater

Where do you see that distinction?



That's also why I don't have a Kindle.

They may allow you to turn off, maybe, but the point is that they are gathering info when you register, regardless. Once again, they are getting a bit more then any fake email addresses you can come up with. If that's fine with people, enjoy. It's not fine with me.




I get and completely understand that. I just make the choice not to buy hardware that requires me to mess with sqlite just to use it. I also chose not to support companies financially that sell my info. I'm glad you and others have found ways to get around the hardware limitations, as people always do.

Does this mean you don't use Amazon at all?
Perhaps we can be friends after all.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by barryem

I think I used the name barry@aol.com or some such to register my recent ones. That isn't a valid email address.

Are you sure? If you are going to use a fake email address you should be certain that no one actually has it.

I have one fairly generic email address that other people have used to sign up for services from time to time. When I get a notification of that I use password reset to gain access to the account and delete it. (Except for one time that it was a dating site and instead of deleting I had fun rewriting the user’s profile and interests.)