Does kobo spy?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Apollyon202

If you are using a device which connects to the internet you may expect the worst.
It is very likely that most companies, if not all, collect all available data about their users, whenever possible.
Even if Kobo currently does not collect metadata from sideloaded books, can you be certain they will never do so in the future?

One might ask, 'Who cares if they know what I read, when, and for how long?' By itself, it may not seem harmful to anyone. However, the issue arises when your reading habits become just a small fragment of the extensive data collected from you throughout your lifetime. What seems irrelevant today could potentially be incriminating tomorrow.

Personally I use my Kobo devices in sideloaded mode, convert my epubs with kepubify and then copy the books to the device. Wifi is always disabled and I see no reason to use it anymore.

The devices' MAC addresses are also blocked in the firewall just to make sure they cannot connect to the internet in any circumstances.
I don't think though that you can do this with Kobo plus subscription. I buy the books, DeDRM them, so even if the kobo store closes for any reason in the future (not likely, but who knows) I can keep my books on my devices indefinitely, and, of course, read them at any time without the watchful eyes of the Big Brother.

Also here is a somewhat in depth analisis about e-books and privacy: https://ebookfriendly.com/ebooks-pri...hings-to-know/

If you had read the entire thread, you'd have read that this is NOT how Kobo operates. Go read the thread and you'll find out how Kobo operates.

[JSWolf]

When you buy an eBook, you give the seller the same information as creating an account. So there is no reason not to register unless you are afraid because you pirate eBooks.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

When you buy an eBook, you give the seller the same information as creating an account. So there is no reason not to register unless you are afraid because you pirate eBooks.

And even then I doubt anyone would care, unless you distribute your pirated copy further. If it only exists on your computer and your ereader, no one will sue you. After all, how would Amazon or Kobo know it's a pirated book and not just bought from another store?

[Apollyon202]

Originally Posted by Penny

It's hilarious but also borderline concerning the level of paranoia that some people have regarding their OPsec. *Note* I agree that keeping good OPsec is a necessity especially when acquiring "sideloaded books".

Outside of that, I can pretty much guarantee that no agency/company has the bandwidth or resources to track individual user reading habits for incriminating habits. If anyone is truly concerned about privacy then they should also be aware that creating an account on a public forum, making a thread, commenting on posts has already started a paper trial (i.e. email used to register account, IP tracking/VPN usage on site visits, grammar patterns in posts/comments, etc.).

Take off the tin foil hat and relax, you won't be on FBIs most wanted list for reading your books.

If using Kobo in sideloaded mode is considered paranoia, then be my guest. You would be surprised to learn that companies do have the resources to collect user data. The general practice today for companies is to mine all user data, no matter what. It does require a lot of resources, though everything is fully automated now, and they profit immensely from it.

Why should one worry about their data being used for marketing purposes? Well, for one thing, you might start receiving spam calls, texts, emails, etc. But on the other hand, you actually don't know what is happening with your data. Or do you?
The big agencies even collect every single encrypted data on the principle of "collect now, decrypt later."

Why would they put in such huge efforts to collect every piece of data about you especially when it's on a state level? Because they aren't going to do anything with it, ever?
Well, making forum posts about privacy hopefully won't lead to trials in the future. Although I wouldn't publish my political views on the internet, even if I had any.)

[Apollyon202]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If you had read the entire thread, you'd have read that this is NOT how Kobo operates. Go read the thread and you'll find out how Kobo operates.

You data is used and sold what they can mine out from you when you are using their services. It is in their privacy policy. After that, no one can possibly tell what's going to happen with all that data.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

When you buy an eBook, you give the seller the same information as creating an account. So there is no reason not to register unless you are afraid because you pirate eBooks.

You don't have to give real details, as kobo is not an authority.

[JSWolf]

[QUOTE=Apollyon202;4413203]You data is used and sold what they can mine out from you when you are using their services. It is in their privacy policy. After that, no one can possibly tell what's going to happen with all that data.

Kobo does not sell data. They adhere strictly to privacy laws.

You don't have to give real details, as kobo is not an authority.

How do you buy eBooks without giving any details?

[Apollyon202]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Kobo does not sell data. They adhere strictly to privacy laws.

Maybe not Kobo directly, but Rakuten definetely. There is no way to check what happens with your data on a distant server - which is actually someone else's computer.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

How do you buy eBooks without giving any details?

I didn't say I don't give any details.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Apollyon202

Maybe not Kobo directly, but Rakuten definetely. There is no way to check what happens with your data on a distant server - which is actually someone else's computer.

Rakuten have to get the data from Kobo. If Kobo doesn't collect it, Rakuten won't have it. IMHO, Kobo is the best Reader company when it comes to privacy. Amazon is the worst.

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Rakuten have to get the data from Kobo. If Kobo doesn't collect it, Rakuten won't have it. IMHO, Kobo is the best Reader company when it comes to privacy. Amazon is the worst.

PocketBook is very good too.

Perhaps @Apollyon202 can provide evidence of what data Rakuten or Kobo is actually extracting when we read our sideloaded books.

[Quoth]

Amazon: US international corporation of huge size. The Kindle operation is money down back of sofa. The main Kindle things are not the ereader, but Subscriptions & sales of ebooks. Over 90% of English ebooks world wide. Various governments investigating.

Rakuten: Japanese. Owns Canadian Kobo, which owns previously German owned Tolino. No investigations. No emails at all in over 10 years to working email addresses created to register the Kobos. Rakuten was #2 in volume on TV screen sales (other labels) a few years ago. Quite large company. Sold off Overdrive.

Pocketbook: Small Ukrainian startup that only does ereaders. They moved to Switzerland.

Onyx Boox: Small Chinese company that only does ereaders.

Boyue seems to have phoenixed into Meebook. Even smaller Chinese company only doing ereaders.

Nook: More disadvantages than Kindle and too tied to Barnes & Noble.

reMarkable: Small Nordic company with a Digital Paper Tablet (i.e., a PDF reader inspired by Sony / Fujitsu PDF Digital paper Tablets). One product only. The reMarkable 2 is quite old now and a cost reduced revamp of the original reMarkable. Brilliant at marketing.

Bigme: Very expensive tiny company that seems to think the public should pay in advance for their product development. Who are they?

Others: a bunch of Chinese sellers selling really ancient Chinese ereaders.

Most of the other original ereader makers are gone or don't do ereaders.

Open source Eink ereaders: Any I've seen are junk.


Kobo is best for privacy, metadata support and Calibre integration, FW support and changing to earlier versions. Also works fine never turning on WiFi.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

How do you buy eBooks without giving any details?

I give Kobo an fake email address to create an account. I then go to a local shop and purchase a Kobo gift card paying cash. I make a purchase on my Kobo account, add the gift card at payment time and bob's your uncle. I would use the Tor browser since it does a better job of protecting my real IP address than most VPNs.

This even works if I want to use Kobo Plus since Kobo will happily use the store credit from gift cards to pay for Kobo Plus. Admittedly, syncing the Kobo Plus books to my Kobo is a bit of a risk since it's IP address will be needed for the sync process but there a router level VPN would help. There are other ways to download ebooks from Kobo but most of them are more trouble than they are worth.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I give Kobo an fake email address to create an account. I then go to a local shop and purchase a Kobo gift card paying cash. I make a purchase on my Kobo account, add the gift card at payment time and bob's your uncle. I would use the Tor browser since it does a better job of protecting my real IP address than most VPNs.

This even works if I want to use Kobo Plus since Kobo will happily use the store credit from gift cards to pay for Kobo Plus. Admittedly, syncing the Kobo Plus books to my Kobo is a bit of a risk since it's IP address will be needed for the sync process but there a router level VPN would help.

That's presuming you have a way to get Kobo gift cards. They're not sold in my country and I have no way of obtaining one. So it's either PayPal or a credit card.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

That's presuming you have a way to get Kobo gift cards. They're not sold in my country and I have no way of obtaining one. So it's either PayPal or a credit card.

At least no way of easily obtaining an anonymous gift card.

[deleted2]

Originally Posted by DNSB

At least no way of easily obtaining an anonymous gift card.

Are you wearing a cap and sunglasses too, so no camera can recognize you?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Claude_C

Are you wearing a cap and sunglasses too, so no camera can recognize you?

A hood and a mask.