How to get epaper/eink and keep privacy and control?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

You'll see the ads only if you buy a Kindle with Special Offers. You're not going to see any ads on the Kindles without them.

Yeah, that $20 Kindle surcharge really bugs me.

[HarryT]

Why on Earth are you annoyed that Amazon knock $20 off the price of the Kindle as an optional offer to people willing to accept advertising? Nobody's forcing anyone to accept the discount if they don't want to!

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by backfromq

So, I'd love the ereader equivalent of being able to use wifi but *not* let the wifi connect to Kobo or Amazon or BN, just let it load web articles *and* only with an adblocker… maybe that's not really an option.

I haven't tried it, but on jailbroken kindles the firewall built in to the linux kernel can be configured to block packets from going to amazon. There is a package that does it.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

You could try one of the devices that has Android and lets you install apps, but from what I've read about them, they tend to be the worst of both worlds. A not very good tablet and a subpar reader/

That is the impression that I get as well.

[backfromq]

Originally Posted by HarryT

…Nobody's forcing anyone…

That's a non-sequitur reply almost all the time. Do you seriously believe that as long as there's no force involved, all criticisms of anything are irrelevant??

"I don't like that book"
"Hey, nobody's forcing you to read it"

Totally unhelpful response. It's about as useful as just saying "stop complaining!"

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Why on Earth are you annoyed that Amazon knock $20 off the price of the Kindle as an optional offer to people willing to accept advertising? Nobody's forcing anyone to accept the discount if they don't want to!

I'm annoyed because the Paperwhite with ads costs exactly the same as its closest competitors that come without ads. So saying Amazon knocks $20 off the price of the Kindle is pure BS/Amazon spin.

The Glowlight 3 has an MSRP of $119 - No ads
The Clara HD has an MSRP of $129 - No ads
The Paperwhite 4 has an MSRP of $129 - WITH ads

[Nausicaa]

If you don't connect the kindle to the internet, the ads won't pop up. No love for likebook mars OP? Try searx for google free google searches or startx.

[backfromq]

Oh, likebook mars seemed the best by basically all measures — except price.

I ended up ordering the $80 deal for a Glowlight 3, we'll see how it goes. Hard to justify spending $240 if I'm not sure I really will care that much about the difference (same even for $130 for the Kobo, though I was debating there). If the Likebook were by-design free/libre/open and privacy-sensitive, I would totally have done it, no question.

I don't use Google search ever, I use DuckDuckGo. But I haven't gotten totally off Gmail or Google Calendar yet.

[Nausicaa]

Originally Posted by backfromq

Oh, likebook mars seemed the best by basically all measures — except price.

I ended up ordering the $80 deal for a Glowlight 3, we'll see how it goes. Hard to justify spending $240 if I'm not sure I really will care that much about the difference (same even for $130 for the Kobo, though I was debating there). If the Likebook were by-design free/libre/open and privacy-sensitive, I would totally have done it, no question.

I don't use Google search ever, I use DuckDuckGo. But I haven't gotten totally off Gmail or Google Calendar yet.

I thought you said that price was not a concern which is why I suggested it to you, sorry I read your request wrong. For price you made the right choice. Not connecting online prevents any privacy issues for any reader. https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/20...roid-ereaders/

searx is an aggregator that anonymizes your data that can include engines such as google and bing. I would say that the calendar is a greater threat unless you make fake entries. There are many privacy related emails such as protonmail and riseup.

[backfromq]

Originally Posted by Nausicaa

I thought you said that price was not a concern which is why I suggested it to you, sorry I read your request wrong. For price you made the right choice. Not connecting online prevents any privacy issues for any reader. https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/20...roid-ereaders/

searx is an aggregator that anonymizes your data that can include engines such as google and bing. I would say that the calendar is a greater threat unless you make fake entries. There are many privacy related emails such as protonmail and riseup.

Oh, I was glad to get the Likebook recommendation and consider it. Price wasn't the priority, but it's not irrelevant. I'm not rich or anything, and I can do other things with $160… like donating it to RiseUp even… I have an email with them but don't use it for everything. I think fastmail might be my best bet overall. And yeah, searx is fine, but I've had no complaints with DuckDuckGo.

Anyway, I'm far from perfect here, I just am especially wary about not just tracking per se but what happens because of it. So, I absolutely hate the YouTube algorithm. It's the worst. Watch ONE video out of curiosity, and the algorithm guesses it should box you into that. Their algorithm CAUSED today's flat-earth movement: https://www.newyorker.com/science/el...n-a-flat-earth

So, I watch any YouTube via mpv or sometimes on NewPipe on my phone. I don't worry that if I watch something out of curiosity about what it is that some algorithm decides that I must *want* more of it. Same concern for reading. http://nxhx.org/maximizing/

Anyway, we'll see how it goes with the Nook. I'm optimistic enough.

[Nausicaa]

Originally Posted by backfromq

Oh, I was glad to get the Likebook recommendation and consider it. Price wasn't the priority, but it's not irrelevant. I'm not rich or anything, and I can do other things with $160… like donating it to RiseUp even… I have an email with them but don't use it for everything. I think fastmail might be my best bet overall. And yeah, searx is fine, but I've had no complaints with DuckDuckGo.

Anyway, I'm far from perfect here, I just am especially wary about not just tracking per se but what happens because of it. So, I absolutely hate the YouTube algorithm. It's the worst. Watch ONE video out of curiosity, and the algorithm guesses it should box you into that. Their algorithm CAUSED today's flat-earth movement: https://www.newyorker.com/science/el...n-a-flat-earth

So, I watch any YouTube via mpv or sometimes on NewPipe on my phone. I don't worry that if I watch something out of curiosity about what it is that some algorithm decides that I must *want* more of it. Same concern for reading. http://nxhx.org/maximizing/

Anyway, we'll see how it goes with the Nook. I'm optimistic enough.

You can use searx with DDG too. Did you set your DNS over tls too? Prevents DNS leaks, DNScrypt is a good idea as well. I bought the Glow Plus you mentioned, the seller seems a little strange but I am happy to try it. If you want, you can also use your router to see what requests it makes online and then stop it in the hosts file.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by backfromq

I ended up ordering the $80 deal for a Glowlight 3, we'll see how it goes. Hard to justify spending $240 if I'm not sure I really will care that much about the difference (same even for $130 for the Kobo, though I was debating there).

Hey, I hope you like your Nook.

I have some grumbles about the software, but am very happy with the reading experience.

[BookCat]

I've idly read through this thread and gained the impression that you may think that an eink ereader is like a smart phone: you can surf the web and check emails on it, just as you can a laptop. This is not the case. Although most ereaders have internet browsers, they work very badly. The best thing ereaders do is allow you to read books.

You can turn the wifi off on the ereader itself, thereby disconnecting it from any possible 'spying'. Books can be 'sideloaded' onto your ereader via a usb cable.

When your Nook arrives, make sure you download the full user manual onto your laptop and read it.

[backfromq]

@BookCat thanks for the notes, but that's a misunderstanding. I have no impression or desire to use an ereader to browse the internet like a smart phone or check emails or anything.

What I do want is to be using my laptop and recognize that an article I want to read is a 3+ minute article and be able to quickly export it to epub or something and regularly copy over a collection of such articles to the ereader in order to still read such things but spend less time reading on my laptop.

I also plan to read longer books.

[BookCat]

Originally Posted by backfromq

@BookCat thanks for the notes, but that's a misunderstanding. I have no impression or desire to use an ereader to browse the internet like a smart phone or check emails or anything.

What I do want is to be using my laptop and recognize that an article I want to read is a 3+ minute article and be able to quickly export it to epub or something and regularly copy over a collection of such articles to the ereader in order to still read such things but spend less time reading on my laptop.

I also plan to read longer books.

If you mainly want to read the text of articles and you're not bothered about the pictures or formatting, what I do is just copy and paste the text of the article into Notepad, or the equivalent Apple txt software. This can then be loaded onto the ereader via usb (where you put it in the ereader drive varies between ereader types, I'm not sure about the Nook.)

All ereaders that I'm aware of read txt.

If you want to keep the pictures and formatting: maybe copy everything, including pictures, into Word and choose "keep formatting as original". Save this, then see if Calibre can convert the doc, docx, or rtf into epub.
Personally, if I want to save an entire article, including layout, I'll do a screen clip and save it into OneNote and read it on my laptop rather than my ereader. But to read just the text on my kindle, I use Notepad.