What's with the Paranoia?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by eeeink

I've read this a few times on this forum and must be missing something. I just set up a new Kobo Forma and it required a username *and* password, as in it required a registered account with Kobo or another service. Is this method you mentioned a non-US option?

I ended up using Sign-in with Apple, then turning off wifi, deleting the saved WiFi password, and then disabling the account in my Apple account. I wish I would have had the option to put in dummy credentials, but the generated email address being stored locally on the device and also not connected to me any longer is sufficient.

If you don't have an account, you can create one with the email you manufactured. Setting up over WiFi, you will notice a "Create new account" below the "Sign in with your account". Much the same using the Kobo Desktop application. Simply enter your fake email and a password of your choice and go for it.

I don't see a Sign-in with Apple, just Google and Facebook but that may be a matter of my affiliate being KoboIndigo or not scrolling down. This is with the 4.25.15875 firmware.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by crossi

Sorry. I don't mean having it filled to a limit. I meant I want the archive completely empty in order to cut the number of pages on my home screen in half by only listing the books I've sideloaded from Calibre.

Ah, thanks for the clarification. I actually use my Kobo Archive for that very purpose - books in my Archive don't show up on my device at all, so once I've downloaded them and "cut them in 'Alf" as it were, only the sideloaded ones show up on my Libra.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by eeeink

When you register with Amazon or Kobo, you give them explicit permission to create a profile of you and use that to send you ads, or to send that information to other companies so that they can send you ads or make predictions about your behavior. This can then be used by anyone who has the money to purchase that information. Insurance companies, credit companies, lending houses. You say "just leave WiFi off" but that's not the point -- any time you then turn WiFi on again to get updates, etc, all that data gets uploaded to their system.

And you make that trade-off -- of giving your behavioral data -- when you purchase ebooks from those companies as well.

My reading habits, including which books I read and how often, are my business. They are not anyone else's business unless I choose to share that information with them. Until these companies came along nobody felt the need to justify their privacy, and I don't feel the need to justify it now. I don't live stream my bathroom usage for the world to see, nor do I disclose what color underwear I'm wearing. Privacy is a fundamental human right, and these companies are trying to take it away for their profit. Well, fuck that.

How is this any different then buying eBooks from Kobo or Amazon. You buy an eBook and they have that information. So how can you buy eBooks without the company you are buying from knowing you bought it? It's no different. Then if you go to Overdrive and download an eBook, again, more data is collected. Sure your Reader isn't properly activated, but these companies are still going to get your data. So what's the point of not properly registering?

What privacy are you going to have not properly registered vs buying eBooks from the same place be it Amazon or Kobo? So really, not properly registering is just a false sense of security as it really doesn't mean anything.

Also, with Kobo, there is a chance that with every firmware update that one of them will not work with the fake registration and you will lose everything in the database. Is that worth the risk for a false sense of security?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by eeeink

I've read this a few times on this forum and must be missing something. I just set up a new Kobo Forma and it required a username *and* password, as in it required a registered account with Kobo or another service. Is this method you mentioned a non-US option?

I ended up using Sign-in with Apple, then turning off wifi, deleting the saved WiFi password, and then disabling the account in my Apple account. I wish I would have had the option to put in dummy credentials, but the generated email address being stored locally on the device and also not connected to me any longer is sufficient.

Yes you can edit the SQL database to fake register. But there is no guarantee that a future firmware update won't change that and you'll lose it all.

[eeeink]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

How is this any different then buying eBooks from Kobo or Amazon. You buy an eBook and they have that information. So how can you buy eBooks without the company you are buying from knowing you bought it? It's no different. Then if you go to Overdrive and download an eBook, again, more data is collected. Sure your Reader isn't properly activated, but these companies are still going to get your data. So what's the point of not properly registering?

What privacy are you going to have not properly registered vs buying eBooks from the same place be it Amazon or Kobo? So really, not properly registering is just a false sense of security as it really doesn't mean anything.

Also, with Kobo, there is a chance that with every firmware update that one of them will not work with the fake registration and you will lose everything in the database. Is that worth the risk for a false sense of security?

At least when you buy them from those places and sideload them, the company can't track when/if/how long you read them/what you highlight, etc. But it's not much different, so that's why I don't buy books from those places. And I don't plan on updating the firmware, especially if Plato ends up being enough for me.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by eeeink

At least when you buy them from those places and sideload them, the company can't track when/if/how long you read them/what you highlight, etc. But it's not much different, so that's why I don't buy books from those places. And I don't plan on updating the firmware, especially if Plato ends up being enough for me.

So where do you buy eBooks from any of the big publishers without giving any information? You can't. You buy, you give information.

[eeeink]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So where do you buy eBooks from any of the big publishers without giving any information? You can't. You buy, you give information.

I don't. That's the point

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by eeeink

I don't. That's the point

What is your point?

[eeeink]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What is your point?

I don’t give these companies my information. I don’t buy books from them, I don’t maintain accounts with them, I don’t give them my WiFi password, I don’t get updates from them.

Buying on the web is better than direct download to the device for sure, but DRM is anti-consumer so I don’t allow that either.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by eeeink

I don’t give these companies my information. I don’t buy books from them, I don’t maintain accounts with them, I don’t give them my WiFi password, I don’t get updates from them.

Buying on the web is better than direct download to the device for sure, but DRM is anti-consumer so I don’t allow that either.

Do you buy any eBooks from any of the big publishers? if not, what sort of eBooks do you buy and from where?

[HLS]

All companies take and use our data. If you think otherwise you are duped lol

[eeeink]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Do you buy any eBooks from any of the big publishers? if not, what sort of eBooks do you buy and from where?

No. I don't buy ebooks.

[cfrizz]

Then that just leaves the library to get books. Personally I don't care, get them from where ever you like and read them in your bunker.

I couldn't care less what Kobo or Amazon think about my reading habits, nor do I care about their reading recommendations, nor do I care if they think they know what my buying habits are. I ignore it all since it can't/doesn't hurt me.

Life is too short to be this paranoid about no consequense crap.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Do you buy any eBooks from any of the big publishers? if not, what sort of eBooks do you buy and from where?

Originally Posted by eeeink

No. I don't buy ebooks.

This brings up the question of where you are obtaining your ebooks from.

There are only so many public domain books out there and many people are more interested in newer material so stating you don't buy ebooks is a bit strange for someone who is asking about how to not register his Kobo Forma.

I have trouble visualizing someone who is happy downloading freebies only from Amazon/Kobo/etc. and even there for most of them, you need an account to do so. Public libraries are even stickier since they want to see your ID before issuing a library card.

This leaves one major source of "free" in copyright ebooks which, sadly, brings the word piracy to mind and does fit in with a touch of paranoia about privacy.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

Life is too short to be this paranoid about no consequense crap.

Exactly. Moreover, most of the people not wanting to register their ereaders still use internet daily, have smartphones, bank cards and accounts etc. I'd consider those things to be far more invasive of one's privacy than ereaders. But hey, what do I know...