Block Amazon Access ?

[dhruvbhutani]

Is there a way i can go online with my Kindle WiFi (KSO) but block off Amazon ? No i don't want to access the Amazon library , i can't buy books from here.

However i would really like to use it with Google Reader and also access my Calibre Library over local network.

[Treah]

Originally Posted by dhruvbhutani

Is there a way i can go online with my Kindle WiFi (KSO) but block off Amazon ? No i don't want to access the Amazon library , i can't buy books from here.

However i would really like to use it with Google Reader and also access my Calibre Library over local network.

I am not 100% sure how amazon is accessing the kindle so I am not sure what I say here is pertinent but I do have experience building and working with Linux systems for 10 years. You could go into /etc/hosts and redirect the traffic to another site or if you want to keep amazon out you could setup a rudimentary firewall using Iptables.

I have actually already considered creating a firewall for my kindle and messing around with cross compiling to get native irssi and other programs working. Something about having to use a chroot makes me itch.

[the-equinoxe]

No registration with amazon is needed for the device to function properly.
You need to change a few files (AFTER BACKUP, otherwise you won't be able to update in the future):
It is quite straightforward, I have one "virgin" K3Wifi which was never activated with amazon, but I am still able to use the internet and upload books to it without it connecting to amazon or using it's network.
Since the files all have "confidential/copyright" I won't be able to post them here, but when you see the files on your own kindle, It will be obvious what to change.

PS. don't forget to white-list the whole internet
The files I changed in order to have the device divorced from amazon:

Etc/hosts
etc/kdb.src/luigi/system/deamon/testd/proxy_host
etc/kdb.src/luigi/system/deamon/wand/NETWORK_TEST_DOMAIN
etc/sysconfig/ntp
Opt/amazon/ebook/config/browser_wv.conf
Opt/amazon/ebook/config/framework.fiona.conf
Opt/amazon/ebook/config/ServerConfig.conf
Opt/amazon/ebook/config/wrs.ini

Regards,

EqX

[crich70]

Well I wouldn't think you have to use Amazon's website. If you don't buy ebooks at Amazon there is no issue of downloading books from Amazon. Of course if you don't register the Kindle then you can't build collections either. The only books I know that were involved with files being removed were books in a person's Amazon library. I wouldn't think they could remove books that weren't Amazon books. And I'm not sure they could actually remove books from the device itself either, though I can't be certain of that.

[the-equinoxe]

@crich70 it is not that you depend on amazon's website, it is that the device uses amazon as proxy, and doesn't allow any traffic besides amazon's site when the device isn't registered.
With some tricks you can even replace amazon's kindle homepage with google or even gutenberg
(check the files I opted for change)

Regards,

EqX

[mark03]

I would like to prevent Amazon from pushing updates to (or removing books from) my k3w, but I still want the option of buying books on the Kindle.

All the suggestions I've seen on the threads here thus far are anecdotal, empirical ("I did X and it worked!"), blunt (block all amazon subnets with iptables), or all three. I'll wait for something a bit more surgical, thanks.

It's not clear to me that anyone understands the exact mechanism by which updates are pushed to the device. If they do, they haven't yet written it up on mobileread for our benefit

[TimW]

Originally Posted by mark03

I would like to prevent Amazon from pushing updates to (or removing books from) my k3w, but I still want the option of buying books on the Kindle.

All the suggestions I've seen on the threads here thus far are anecdotal, empirical ("I did X and it worked!"), blunt (block all amazon subnets with iptables), or all three. I'll wait for something a bit more surgical, thanks.

It's not clear to me that anyone understands the exact mechanism by which updates are pushed to the device. If they do, they haven't yet written it up on mobileread for our benefit

Don't ever turn on the wireless. No updates. You can purchase books and transfer them using the USB. The books can be sent "transfer via computer" to the registered device. They can't be sent to K4PC and be used in the device, the DRM doesn't allow that.

[mark03]

Originally Posted by TimW

Don't ever turn on the wireless. No updates. You can purchase books and transfer them using the USB.

That would be in the "blunt" category

Seriously, I would like to use my wireless, including for the purpose of buying DRMed books direct-to-device on Amazon.

I have root access. I doubt it's *that* hard to disable auto-updating while avoiding collateral damage. It's just that none of the recipes posted here have been backed up by a convincing level of understanding, IMO. And yeah, I know, I shouldn't complain unless I can figure it out myself and post a solution... but at the moment I'm busy setting up a cross-compilation toolchain.

[khmann]

Apologizes for necro-post, but I thought I'd share my solution. I'm old-skool unix guy, and I don't trust to manually edit a bazillion files in fear I might miss something, so I put a script in startup:

route add default reject

so there is default gateway of reject, usually dhcp client won't override it. But I am ultra paranoid, so I also

route add -net 0.0.0.0 netmask 128.0.0.0 reject
route add -net 128.0.0.0 netmask 128.0.0.0 reject

These are not "default" routes so they won't be replaced, and they are more specific than a default route so they take precedence. When you join local WiFi, that network is directly connected (and more specific) so local communication is still allowed.

This solution has worked flawlessly for me on many platforms over the years...

[mark03]

Isn't that more-or-less the same as setting up iptables to block everything but IPs in your local subnet?

It may be the safest solution at the moment, but it would still be nice to kill the updating process at the application layer so we don't have to resort to network-layer blocks.

[khmann]

Originally Posted by mark03

Isn't that more-or-less the same as setting up iptables to block everything but IPs in your local subnet?

agreed. but implementation is "generic", and perhaps harder to screw up : ) I have not spent any time looking at the actual update methodology, but it's on my "list".