"Amazon will capture and control every Web transaction performed by Fire users.”

[L.J. Sellers]

I found this post interesting. I've never worry much about privacy issues, but I'm starting to think I should.

http://cdespinosa.posterous.com/fire

[=X=]

Amazon wasn't hush hush about this. That was their selling point of the silk browser.

Yes that turned me off about the browser especially since they did not mention how they would handle secure transactions.

Btw this is not new technology all Blackberrys do this and so do opera mini browser. The opera mobile does too, but you can turn off that feature.

[DiapDealer]

It's really no different than using a proxy to do your browsing. I'm not saying there should be no concern, but every transaction—every page I go to—on my Kindle 2's browser goes through Amazon too. So it's not really a new development. Where was the outrage then?

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by =X=

Btw this is not new technology all Blackberrys do this and so do opera mini browser. The opera mobile does too, but you can turn off that feature.

(Corporate) BlackBerry traffic goes through a server run by the company itself, not by RIM.

[OtterBooks]

fine by me.

[=X=]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

It's really no different than using a proxy to do your browsing. I'm not saying there should be no concern, but every transaction—every page I go to—on my Kindle 2's browser goes through Amazon too. So it's not really a new development. Where was the outrage then?

Proxy's can catch and sniff but mostly they are pass through ports. Also the K2 has limited browsing ability so you really only used it in a pinch. Also on the K2 you where on their network.

Here your on your network and they are catching your content and the fire is much more capable as a browser which means you will be using it a lot more.

With a proxy you securitiy keys are still point to point. With their silk they have not indicated how they will handle this secure connection.

Originally Posted by murraypaul

(Corporate) BlackBerry traffic goes through a server run by the company itself, not by RIM.

Good point. I'm only familiar with their BIS solution where it does go through RIM servers.

=X=

[susan_cassidy]

I've not heard that the K2 (or K1) browser traffic goes through Amazon. No reason for it to have to. The purpose of the caching on the Amazon servers on Silk is to reduce the time it takes to display a page, from what I read. Similar to what Akamai does, except apparently the Silk software does some pre-processing in order to display the page (probably interprets things like CSS and JavaScript).

[RDaneel54]

A later post on this page and a comment below indicate the data collection is in aggregate not attached to specific users.

Also, you can turn off the "Silk" browsing and use it as a regular browser.

I have no idea of the validity of these comments.

Dean

[Barcey]

It also lets them control access if someone develops a cloud reader application similar to what Amazon did on the iPad. It will be interesting to see if they do.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

The purpose of the caching on the Amazon servers on Silk is to reduce the time it takes to display a page, from what I read.

I agree that the purpose of the caching is to make browsing faster for users. Not sure if that is *the* purpose for why Amazon has invested the time and effort on developing Silk. Collecting the aggregate data of every browsing session of every user has to be a marketing goldmine for them as well.

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by Barcey

It also lets them control access if someone develops a cloud reader application similar to what Amazon did on the iPad. It will be interesting to see if they do.

Given that there are other reading apps in the Amazon App store (including commercial rival Kobo), I would doubt that they would block such a cloud reading app. They'd lose more than they gain by that move (see the 1984 debacle).

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

I've not heard that the K2 (or K1) browser traffic goes through Amazon. No reason for it to have to.

Of course there's a reason K2 browsers go through Amazon. They're 3G only devices. Most cell providers aren't willing to let you hop on their networks and browse willy-nilly with just any old device. So you have to go through Amazon's approved proxy-servers first to access to the internet.

I agree it's not the same situation as the Silk browser, but there was still no outrage at the time about every single packet to and from your device going through Amazon's servers.

[djulian]

Originally Posted by RDaneel54

A later post on this page and a comment below indicate the data collection is in aggregate not attached to specific users.

Also, you can turn off the "Silk" browsing and use it as a regular browser.

I have no idea of the validity of these comments.

Dean

I had heard this too...Looking for the link...

Ah, here!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...deId=200775270

At point 1, under Privacy Information, it reads,

"You can also choose to operate Amazon Silk in basic or “off-cloud” mode. Off-cloud mode allows web pages generally to go directly to your computer rather than pass through our servers. As such, it does not take advantage of Amazon’s cloud computing services to speed-up web content delivery."

I hope that helps!

[RainingLemur]

Eh, no big deal for me (should I ever pick one up).

[carld]

Opera's Mini Web Browser has been doing the exact same thing for over six years. No one seemed to care about this sort of thing until Amazon introduced Silk.