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Comment on How I Reversed Amazon's Kindle Web Obfuscation Because Their App Sucked

spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

I find it puzzling that people are OK with allowing a mammoth, regularly hostile corporation know exactly what books they’re reading as well as the exact details of their reading habits. Everything is accessible to Amazon- how often you access a book, how fast your read and when you linger on or return to a page. I wonder when they’ll implement camera-based eye tracking so they know what word you’re on?

The same Public libraries that vigorously defend the privacy of our reading lists are simultaneously fine outsourcing all ebook access to Amazon where there’s no expectation of privacy at all. Epubs at those libraries are now so well hidden they’re not even mentioned anymore and access is buried multiple levels deep in the mandatory Libby app.

I love the ease of access and convenience of ebooks, but paper books are becoming more and more appealing by comparison.

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CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

The same public libraries that vigorously defend the privacy of our reading lists

The Patriot act allows the feds to get the books you’ve checked out at your local library.

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- smh@slrpnk.net ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Yep. Good news on that front: libraries I’ve worked at just don’t keep records of what you’ve checked out after you’ve returned it, unless there was some sort of fine or something. Can’t give up data you don’t have and if the library avoids storing the data for anyone then it’s hard to accuse the library of selectively hiding data.
  
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- spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Does “the feds” include Amazon?
  
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bluegreenpurplepink@lemmy.world ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I sideload my own books and then turn off the internet on the Kindle. Other than knowing what books I have, are they still able to monitor all those other things?

I ask because I don’t completely understand some of this internet networking stuff. The other day I turned off my router while I was watching a video on YouTube and the video kept playing with no interruption or lag while I thought I had turned off the wifi in my house. I guess we can’t turn it off anymore? Or was it able to keep playing because it was cached?

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- spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  If the Kindle never has Internet access (and that includes access through another app) Amazon should not be able to connect at all. YouTube buffers content and your device may have already downloaded the entire file, but if it’s a phone it would just switch to the mobile network.
  
  Sometimes I think I’m too paranoid about this stuff and the next day they’ll be another headline about corporate abuse of “protected” consumer data or yet another breach. Remember Facebook’s years long access of protected medical records through a tracking tool installed on a third of medical websites? I’m probably not paranoid enough.
  
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- Rekorse@sh.itjust.works ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Timestamps on activities you take can be combined with other data points to figure out things like your location, what people are nearby you, and what you are doing at that moment. These data points are created frequently and can be reviewed actively or retroactively.
  
  That data is collected and sold by data brokers, who then sell it to law enforcement and government, as well as advertisers and other companies.
  
  AI is very good at finding patterns in data points, and is accelerating the usability of all this data thats been collected.
  
  I simply don’t like the idea of being targeted or used, so ive tried to minimize data collection. I have a custom ROM on my phone and have linux on my computers. I dont have accounts with companies I dont trust. Sometimes if I have to make an account anyways, I’ll use fake information and a vpn.
  
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Passerby6497@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Amazon can’t see shit that me and mine read, but that’s cuz I liberated my Kindle books and now read/listen to all of my Kindle/audible books through audiobookshelf.

So glad I made that jump a few years ago

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