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When Your e-Books Read You
theodp writes "'Perhaps nothing will have as large an impact on advanced analytics in the coming year as the ongoing explosion of new and powerful data sources,' writes Bill Franks in Taming The Big Data Tidal Wave. And one of the hottest new sources of Big Data, reports the WSJ's Alexandra Alter in Your E-Book Is Reading You, is the estimated 40 million e-readers and 65 million tablets in use in the U.S. that are ripe for the picking by data scientists working for Amazon, Apple, Google, and Barnes & Noble. Some privacy watchdogs argue that e-book users should be protected from having their digital reading habits recorded. 'There's a societal ideal that what you read is nobody else's business,' says the EFF's Cindy Cohn."
In Capitalist America, book reads you!
I am officially gone from
You live in Soviet Russia.
I'm pretty sure it will be sold to us with discounts and targeted recommendations. But I'm not looking forward to it.
Someday some genius is going to have the bright idea of being the sole content provider who does not mine users' personal data for targeted ads. And people will sign up in droves for all the pent-up demand.
Rented videos? Noted. Subscribed to a magazine? Noted. Visited a web site? Noted. Searched for something? Noted.
With something you have already natively: Your hosts file!
I use custom hosts in the following ways (see my 'p.s.' below, in detail, for your reference) to COMPLIMENT & OVERCOME PROBLEMS IN DNS & OTHER MECHANISMS LARGELY & more efficiently!
Custom hosts files gain me the following benefits (A short summary of where custom hosts files can be extremely useful):
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1.) Blocking out malware/malscripted sites
2.) Blocking out Known sites-servers/hosts-domains that are known to serve up malware
3.) Blocking out Bogus DNS servers malware makers use
4.) Blocking out Botnet C&C servers
5.) Blocking out Bogus adbanners that are full of malicious script content
6.) Getting you back speed/bandwidth you paid for by blocking out adbanners + hardcoding in your favorite sites (faster than remote DNS server resolution)
7.) Added reliability (vs. downed or misdirect/poisoned DNS servers).
8.) Added "anonymity" (to an extent, vs. DNS request logs)
9.) The ability to bypass DNSBL's (DNS block lists you may not agree with).
10.) More screen "real estate" (since no more adbanners appear onscreen eating up CPU, Memory, & other forms of I/O too - bonus!)
11.) Truly UNIVERSAL PROTECTION (since any OS, even on smartphones, usually has a BSD drived IP stack).
12.) Faster & MORE EFFICIENT operation vs. browser plugins (which "layer on" ontop of Ring 3/RPL 3/usermode browsers - whereas the hosts file operates @ the Ring 0/RPL 0/Kernelmode of operation (far faster) as a filter for the IP stack itself...)
13.) Blocking out TRACKERS
14.) Custom hosts files work on ANY & ALL webbound apps (browser plugins do not).
15.) Custom hosts files offer a better, faster, more efficient way, & safer way to surf the web & are COMPLETELY controlled by the end-user of them.
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* & FAR more... read on below IF you are interested (for detail).
AND, for those of you that run Microsoft Windows 32 or 64 bit? An automated hosts file creation & mgt. program:
http://securemecca.com/public/APKHostsFileInstaller/2012_06_01/APKHostsFileEngineInstaller32_64bit.exe.zip
(You simply extract its files to ANY folder you like (usually one you create for it, doesn't matter where, but you MUST run it as administrator (simple & the "read me" tab shows how easy THAT is to do))
What's it do for you?
It's a custom hosts file mgt. program that does the following for end users (Calling it "APK Hosts File Engine 5.0++") after it obtains custom hosts file data from 12 of the reputable & reliable sources listed below:
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1.) Offers massively noticeable increased speed for websurfing via blocking adbanners
2.) Offers increased speed for users fav. sites by hardcoding them into the hosts file for faster IP address-to-host/domain name resolutions (which sites RARELY change their hosting providers, e.g.-> of 250 I do, only 6 have changed since 2006 - & when sites do because they found a less costly hosting provider? Then, they either email notify members, put up warnings on their pages, & do IP warnings & redirectors onto the former IP address range to protect vs. the unscrupulous criminal bidding on that range to buy it to steal from users of say, online banking or shopping sites).
3.) Better "Layered-Security"/"Defense-In-Depth" via blocking host-domain based attacks by KNOWN bad sites-servers that are known to do so (which IS, by far, the majority of what's used by both users (hence the existence of the faulty but for most part working DNS system), AND even by malware makers (since host-domain names are recyclable by they, & the RBN (Russian Business Network & others)) were doing it like mad with "less than scrupulous", or uncaring, hosting providers)
4.) Better 'anonymity' to an extent vs. DNS request logs (not vs. DPI ("deep packet inspecti
...pay per read?
Don't buy books from those vendors, don't enable wifi on your reading device.
My nook touch hasn't checked in since the day it was registered ( which was required to make it work.. grrr )
---- Booth was a patriot ----
"'There's a societal ideal that what you read is nobody else's business,'" ... no, no there isn't. It's at least the business of whoever is selling you the book... literally. That doesn't change when you add on the internet.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
The problem is proprietary software. This is a feature that could theoretically be included in free software, but which the users would just remove and distribute a fork.
Yet everyone said we were crazy when we warned about proprietary ebooks and reader software...
Palm trees and 8
Taming The Big Data Tidal Wave?
Appropriate name since a lot of those books arrive in torrents.
I'm glad I've not purchased an eReader yet. I feel like we're licensing our souls piecemeal these days. Unfortunately, we're getting a raw deal in return for the adoption of technology.
I actually do this when I buy a book and have done for 20 years now: Buy it cash (preferably second hand already), Read it, Stick a bloody great big sticker on the front that says this is to be handed around for free and must not be sold, Give it to someone (anyone!). I encourage everyone else to do this as well.
The more everyone decides to move to electronic devices we don't control - ebooks, iOS, most Android devices, WP7, Facebook, DVRs that report on our viewing habits, and many others - the more this reality will come to pass. Every single thing we ever with anything electronic will be tracked, logged, used to form advertizing profiles of us, and a government database mined to find da terrurusts.
We get the reality we chose to buy. Most people are choosing to live in this world by preferring those products over others without the privacy problems. Thus, it is the world we will get.
You read ebooks!
4) Read the book at the library - most encourage this sort of behavior, and it leaves no record at all.
Sure it does. On the security camera(s). Put a frame online for crowd id and you're tagged.
My approach has always been to side-load ebooks from various .torrent sites. It avoids all of these privacy hassles.
Why is it that the tone of these articles invoke a picture of Jeff Bezos sitting in a hotel suite with the shades drawn, watching numbers and graphs constantly changing on a bunch of laptops? I can see him now, fingernails 6 inches long because he can't look away long enough for personal grooming, drinking his milk, eating his peas. Barking orders out to his handlers...
I think the only thing they'll find out is that much of the data collected is just about worthless. Yes, advertisers ask for all this information now, but in another 5 years we'll either all scrub data and they'll never see it, or (the more likely scenario), they'll find that all that targeting and data crunching doesn't translate into increased sales. Most people buy books based on word of mouth. When the mouth is Oprah, the word carries a lot more weight than a complete stranger's review on Amazon.com, but it's the same thing. There will continue to be book reviewers, a lot of them, in fact. The key will be to get the right book in the hands of the right reviewer, not relying on past purchases for predicting future behavior.
BTW this isn't some new revelation... it's been happening for years in independent bookstores and video rental shops. Many people do watch the "staff picks" shelf as a guide for what to read or watch.
"Well, good luck finding a judge that doesn't run a bestiality site."
I meant nook tablet.. doh.
Be nice if we had a edit last post feature around here.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I remember when it was a big deal just about 10 years ago when librarians fought back against the government spying on what books people read at their library.
Now only 10 years later, only a few people are upset at the privatized version which just voluntarily hands the data over to the government without any fuss. The impacts are greater and far reaching but people don't care.
Your profile might not be public, like Facebook... but leaks, 3rd parties etc. will someday be providing profiling services to insurance and HR departments. You will not know why you don't get jobs, lose jobs, pay higher insurance, lose LOANs, pay higher interest rates.... It'll take probably decades before a similar system to credit ratings is known about and starting to be regulated (we still do not regulate the credit ratings which can be unfair... not that regulation will fix it.) Your information might be "private" but that does not protect you from "trusted 3rd parties" from providing profiles to others because it is derived information that is your real threat.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
They can already track your reading habits if they wanted to.
If you really enjoy reading the kindle is a great investment. The vast amount of public domain literature from Project Gutenberg and others is fantastic. With open sourced software such as Calbrie (http://calibre-ebook.com/download) you are able to convert any file to the Kindle .mobi. I was tempted to purchase one with the whispernet 3g but luckily I went with the wifi only model (and I keep the wifi turned off) and never registered the device.
...so DHS puts you on the watch list and TSA will single you out for additional 'pat downs'. (Or is it 'pats down'?)
"Trump!!", the new Godwin.
It disturbs me that the Kobo book reader uses Google Analytics.
Google knows too much as it is.
I guess the only thing to do now is obfuscate our info with a crushing avalanche of obviously fake information feeding into the system...
Y.T.'s mom pulls up the new memo, checks the time, and starts reading it. The estimated reading time is 15.62 minutes. Later, when Marietta does her end-of-day statistical roundup, sitting in her private office at 9:00 P.M., she will see the name of each employee and next to it, the amount of time spent reading this memo, and her reaction, based on the time spent, will go something like this:
Less than 10 min.: Time for an employee conference and possible attitude counseling.
10-14 min.: Keep an eye on this employee; may be developing slipshod attitude.
14-15.61 min.: Employee is an efficient worker, may sometimes miss important details.
Exactly 15.62 min.: Smartass. Needs attitude counseling.
15.63-16 min.: Asswipe. Not to be trusted.
16-18 min.: Employee is a methodical worker, may sometimes get hung up on minor details.
More than 18 min.: Check the security videotape, see just what this employee was up to (e.g., possible unauthorized restroom break).
Y.T.'s mom decides to spend between fourteen and fifteen minutes reading the memo. It's better for younger workers to spend too long, to show that they're careful, not cocky. It's better for older workers to go a little fast, to show good management potential. She's pushing forty. She scans through the memo, hitting the Page Down button at reasonably regular intervals, occasionally paging back up to pretend to reread some earlier section. The computer is going to notice all this. It approves of rereading. It's a small thing, but over a decade or so this stuff really shows up on your work-habits summary.
If it is profitable, they will do it.
So if you want to know whether a corporation is tracking any particular activity you do, just ask if it is profitable, and you will have your answer. (Note: targeted advertising is much more valuable than non-targeted advertising).
Same thing goes with selling the information. If someone is willing to pay for it and it is legal (or if the costs of breaking the law are lower than the sale price) then they have sold it.
Fair question - Check GOOGLE for the particulars of your model/brand of EBook Reader -> http://www.google.com/search?sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&site=&source=hp&q=%22EBook+Reader+Operating+System%22&btnG=Search&gbv=1&sei=_mbwT5i8IuW26wGSlb2HBg
* Perusing some of those, I saw Linux listed as the Operating System for them!
(So YES - thus, it is possible to use custom HOSTS files on those that use Linux as the OS, because it uses a BSD derived IP stack then most likely)...
APK
P.S.=> Others suggested you begin checking the manual or documentation for your particular model for the hosts file location on such systems, so in lieu of that (provided you don't have any tech specs of that nature in hardcopy form there)?
Use the query from GOOGLE above!
(It'll probably assist you in that capacity!)
You'll most likely need tools to migrate the newly created custom hosts files from where you imported it from, a PC is a possible!
(Tools like ADB - Android Debugging Bridge is for ANDROID smartphones)
Unfortunately - That's where my "know-how" here stops for EBook readers (I don't use them myself)...
Thus, your question demands that you search for that type of tool yourself, provided it actually EXISTS for such purposes on EBook Readers - get back to us IF you find the way, as it would be good to know even IF I don't use such devices myself...
Good luck - hosts files help in many ways! apk
Well, it sounds like you have familiarity with Linux on your end, so you're probably "right @ home" as to how to handle it on that account I'd imagine!
* Which by this time, I'm @ my limit on EReaders - as I don't own one myself!
APK
P.S.=> Read carefully, do a good job, & good luck - you're already 1/2 way there just knowing what it is you're working with @ a rudimentary level rather than being "in the dark" completely... apk