![]() |
#1 |
Pointed Pontification.
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 64
Karma: 100000
Join Date: Sep 2011
Device: Kobo Touch (Black)
|
![]()
Scroll down for instructions to disable tracking.
Almost definitely true, non-sensational facts about Kobo's use of Google Analytics. tl;dr:
The GAQueue variable in .kobo/Kobo/Kobo eReader.conf stores the Google-Analytics callbacks until the next time you connect the KT to the Internet. The GAQueue is cleared on each reboot. If you want to decode the entries in the GAQueue variable, go ahead. The documentation is right here: Most values, GA's cookies, the utms parameter. Here's a dissection for nerds, of what data is sent/stored: http://pastie.org/3079390 The KT reports URL's like 'http://devices.kobo.com/ReadingView/Book' to GA. 'devices.kobo.com' doesn't exist. It's not a real subdomain, and not because of some sinister 'hide the evidence' motive either. (If that were the case, the configuration file would be obfuscated and Kobo's CEO would have way more money than he does now.) Google Analytics provides a handy, free of charge, platform and lots of pre-built tools for monitoring websites. All Kobo has done is made KT send stats to GA as if the device is a website you're browsing. They're using the GA for mobile devices approach described here. As Lunchtray said, a device tracking usage metrics is not surprising. But I disagree with them about whether stats of the detail they described using for their games (tracking individual option usage, etc.) are necessary, or even that useful. I'd known about the KT's GA integration for a while, but after just now looking into the implementation, I am concerned by the detail of the stats. I'm happy to see that Kobo has made an effort to avoid much of the highly intrusive, and useless, tracking the a tool like GA affords. They don't tie metrics to accounts and clear UID's and unsent callbacks across sessions (meaning they don't track devices across reboots.) But aiming to report each time you load the home-screen, or read a book for X minutes nonetheless seems like overkill to me. Their metrics are not super-invasive, and an extremely far cry from stuff like CarrierIQ, or individual menu button tracking. That said, for me at least, they still do cross the line into 'creepy,' especially since the callbacks are being sent to Google, where those stats will be be saved and analyzed as a part of Google's hoard of personal data. (If it were Kobo infrastructure, I'd still be concerned, but much less so. Kobo isn't a business built on harvesting personal data.) Marco Arment describes the creepy threshold in mobile analytics better than I could. (49mins in, past all the coffee talk) How to disable Google Analytics on the Kobo Touch What this does: it edits the hosts file of the Kobo Touch so www.google-analytics.com is translated to the loopback IP address of your device: 127.0.0.1. This means the device can't talk to Google Analytics, thus breaking stats tracking. The exact line I'm adding to the /etc/hosts file is '127.0.0.1 www.google-analytics.com ssl.google-analytics.com google-analytics.com' I encourage you to open up the KoboRoot.tgz file and verify this yourself. Directions: Save this file in your KT's '.kobo' directory. Eject & disconnect. Watch 0.5 seconds of the upgrade animation. Be happy. (KoboRoot.tgz is deleted after the upgrade. Don't worry.) The tweak should persist across upgrades, unless the devs ship a hosts file in an update, but that's very unlikely. I was able to whip this up thanks to the Kobo's accessible system, research done by Stef70 and the Hacking into the KT & Manually upgrading KT firmware threads. Much love. Last edited by novou; 01-06-2012 at 07:59 PM. Reason: added 'scroll down' messages |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#2 |
Zealot
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 114
Karma: 1274
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Finland
Device: Kobo Touch
|
Wow. Thanks for the detailed report. I always adblock those statistics pages on my web browser, so it will be nice to do the same on KT
|
![]() |
![]() |
Advert | |
|
![]() |
#3 |
Pointed Pontification.
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 64
Karma: 100000
Join Date: Sep 2011
Device: Kobo Touch (Black)
|
I thought about making ad/tracker blocking hosts file for the KT, it wouldn't be hard.
I wanted to ship something simple first, but I might put one together for the KT, unless someone else beats me to it. The vanilla hosts file is just "127.0.0.1 host localhost.localdomain localhost localhost localhost.localdomain" and I added my line right below. If you know your way around a *nix/OSX command line: Code:
# mkdir etc # editorofchoice etc/hosts # tar czf KoboRoot.tgz etc/hosts |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#4 | |
Zealot
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 125
Karma: 189828
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Wisconsin, USA
Device: laptop, iriver Story HD, Galaxy Tab2 10.1
|
Quote:
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#5 |
Zealot
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 137
Karma: 207434
Join Date: Dec 2011
Device: Kobo Glo
|
Cool! Thank you for clearing up that matter and also for the option to turn off that stuff. The hosts file - of course. My notebook (Windows) already has a 'hardened' hosts file.
|
![]() |
![]() |
Advert | |
|
![]() |
#6 | |
Connoisseur
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 78
Karma: 107708
Join Date: Jul 2011
Device: Kobo Glo, Kobo Touch, Kobo Gen 1
|
Quote:
Notice how in the new firmware it's not "Library|Store|Reading Life"? Odds are they noticed that having that configuration wasn't working for them so they put it all under "Home" and are now trying the recommendation engine at the bottom to get people into the store. So, In Kobo's case the answer to the possibly less used store button was to implement "Featured/Recommendations" bar at the bottom to hopefully drive customers to buy more books and get them into the store. Usually the analytics just grabs everything you can possibly do for a program and sends back the data and the company has to clean it up to understand how the customers are using the products and how to improve it. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#7 | ||
Pointed Pontification.
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 64
Karma: 100000
Join Date: Sep 2011
Device: Kobo Touch (Black)
|
Quote:
What I meant to say, was that Kobo's business is book sales. They do harvest this data and book buying patterns to optimize their book sales. But it is in service of that aim. Google on the other hand, makes 99% of their money from highly targeted advertising. Personal profiling & data mining is their business. Kobo isn't using the devices' GA metrics to personally profile users, but Google is using them to target and profile individual users. (That's why Google provides GA) Quote:
I think Kobo adding an opt-in toggle for usage statistics, with a statement of what they're tracking and the data's lifecycle, would allow them to still get good device data, while giving users a choice. PS: I updated my post above so it describes your metric use better. Last edited by novou; 12-27-2011 at 09:55 PM. |
||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#8 | |
Cynical Old Curmudgeon
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 1,085
Karma: 8495696
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Halifax, Canada
Device: Kobo Mini, Kobo Arc, HTC Desire C
|
Quote:
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#9 |
Pointed Pontification.
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 64
Karma: 100000
Join Date: Sep 2011
Device: Kobo Touch (Black)
|
JD, it sounds like the procedure worked just as it should. The KoboRoot.tgz file is supposed to disappear. The tweak to the hosts file happens in the KT's underlying system by using the upgrade method.
I've make that more clear in the post. Last edited by novou; 12-27-2011 at 10:57 PM. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#10 |
Cynical Old Curmudgeon
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 1,085
Karma: 8495696
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Halifax, Canada
Device: Kobo Mini, Kobo Arc, HTC Desire C
|
Guess there's a hidden partition there that Windows can't spot, eh? (without outside tools, of course)
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#11 |
Pointed Pontification.
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 64
Karma: 100000
Join Date: Sep 2011
Device: Kobo Touch (Black)
|
Yeah, read the threads in the bottom of my first post if you're curious.
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#12 |
Groupie
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 152
Karma: 216188
Join Date: Jul 2010
Device: Nook Classic, Kobo Touch, Nook Simple Touch, Kobo Aura
|
Thanks!! Excellent work and another way my Kobo keeps getting "better" long after the initial purchase!!
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#13 |
Connoisseur
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 78
Karma: 107708
Join Date: Jul 2011
Device: Kobo Glo, Kobo Touch, Kobo Gen 1
|
I can't exactly recall but this opt-in is likely embedded withing the End Usage License Agreement for the product. I have a friend who won't use STEAM for this reason.
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#14 |
Pointed Pontification.
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 64
Karma: 100000
Join Date: Sep 2011
Device: Kobo Touch (Black)
|
There wasn't a click-wrap EULA on the KT when you load it up. I think all you agree to are the KoboBooks.com terms. I didn't see any specific message of statistics collection when I looked through them, but that's not the whole point.
They should add a clearly labeled & explained toggle in the settings which is disabled by default. As it is, the Kobo tracking defaults to opt-in, with no official, easy to locate means to opt-out. Personally, I believe they should have informed consent for this tracking, which is a standard clearly not met currently. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#15 | ||
Connoisseur
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 78
Karma: 107708
Join Date: Jul 2011
Device: Kobo Glo, Kobo Touch, Kobo Gen 1
|
Quote:
By using any of their services on any device (this I believe includes syncing to update firmware or using their firmware files) means you've agreed to and have read their policy. Linked out from the terms of use I found their Privacy Policy that says they do analytics. http://www.kobobooks.com/privacypolicy Quote:
They're far more transparent that pretty much every single mobile app developer on Android, iPhone, Blackberry, etc. Those all have Google Analytics. I don't agree with your want for a button to turn off and opt-out by default. They need their data to run their storefront/business as best they can and to improve their UI and products. If you don't like the terms for a product or service don't use it and choose someone else. In their business most (if not all) companies will be doing the same thing so pick your lesser evil or whichever company you feel more fuzzy about. Last edited by Lunchtray; 01-04-2012 at 06:13 PM. |
||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Tags |
kobo touch, privacy |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
|
![]() |
||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Google Analytics URLs won't validate | ccraig13 | Sigil | 8 | 07-18-2012 05:17 PM |
mouse click tracking or analytics? | PChuprina | ePub | 3 | 10-30-2010 12:44 AM |
Google analytics slowing things down | pilotbob | Feedback | 17 | 02-11-2009 12:41 PM |
Google Books allows integration of book clips into websites | TadW | News | 2 | 09-07-2007 01:46 PM |