Do you ever think about your ebook reading privacy? Is someone tracking what you read?
If you read ebooks, the answer is definitely, yes.
Amazon Kindle Unlimited pays authors by the number of pages read by ebook readers,
It is proof enough that when you read an ebook, Amazon is monitoring what you read.
Ebook privacy
The fact that ebook retailers are tracking ebook reading is not startling news.
But what is worrying is the depth of knowledge this data collection gathers.
An article in The Guardian highlights the amount of data Amazon collects from Kindle readers.
Here are some of the data Amazon can collect.
Country of residence
Attempts to get the IP address on the local network
Device information and version, iPhone vs. Android vs. Kindle, and software version
Goodreads account details
Device orientation
Excerpts you copy
Here is a quick look at some of the code Amazon collects from Kindle and Kindle app readers.
Yes, you probably don’t realize how much information your Kindle or app is sending back to Amazon as you read.
But it is enough for concern.
Is your private reading data secure?
It has been proven many times over in recent years by Edward Snowden and Wikileaks, among others, that commercial data is not secure at all.
There is every reason to believe that data security services can and do access or harvest data such as this.
If you read an ebook version of perhaps Mein Kampf, any ISIS manifesto, books by Noam Chomsky or John Pilger, or merely a fantasy escape read of porn dressed up as erotica, someone will know.
It’s today’s version of Big Brother.
Worse still, if you highlight specific phrases or make notes, you may well incriminate yourself further.
A highlighter and a pencil, along with a paperback, would be a lot safer.
What about print books?
But if you bought the paperback copy online or at your local bookstore with your credit card, you’re not totally safe either.
You have still left a data trail for the spooks to follow.
It is a dramatic change in the security and privacy of reading.
Until the advent of the ebook, no one had the power to spy on what you read.
Sure, we have had attempts to burn the books. But that pales in the face of the power now to spy on what millions of people are reading.
What can you do to protect your ebook reading privacy?
Firstly, close all your bank accounts, credit cards, and Paypal account.
Then get rid of your cell phone, laptop, and Internet connection, and just to be safe, ditch your iPad and Kindle.
After doing all this, go to your local bookstore. Well, if there is one still surviving in your town or city, and buy your book with cash.
Then go home and read it under your bedcovers by torchlight.
Ebook reading has become as insecure as making a phone call.
So be careful in how you buy books and how you read them.
Remember, the spooks want to know about every word you read.
Related Reading: How You Can Lose All Your Ebooks Because Of DRM
