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Amazon Is Now Sending Postcards To Remind Kindle Owners To Update Their Devices (the-digital-reader.com)

Posted by msmash on from the overly-attached-girlfriend dept.

Reader Nate the greatest writes: Amazon's getting serious about a recent required firmware update. Last month Amazon sent out emails, asking everyone to update, and this week they stepped up their game. Several Kindle owners say they've received postcards from Amazon with reminders to update their Kindles. Sure, this is an important update which adds security certificates, but don't you think this is overkill?

71 comments

  1. proposed department transfer by HFBondsTrader · · Score: 1

    from the anachronistic outreach department

  2. Why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Amazon's diligence on this issue raises my tinfoil hat feelers.

    1. Re:Why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It makes me believe there must be an easy jailbreak out there for rooting the device and they are desperately trying to stop people from doing so.

    2. Re:Why by jandrese · · Score: 1

      I thought there was some internal cert that's about to expire and lock the device out of the Amazon store and update service? If that happens, it becomes pretty useless, at least once you finish all of the books that are already loaded.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
  3. Do you think it's overkill? by hardill · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you worked for Amazon Kindle support you'd be doing all you can to head off the hoard of screaming customer wanting to know why their device has stopped working.

    1. Re:Do you think it's overkill? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you worked for Amazon Kindle support you'd be doing all you can to head off the hoard of screaming customer wanting to know why their device has stopped working.

      At least they're not pulling a Microsoft. "No really, customers have complete control, their devices aren't updating themselves at inconvenient times...honest!". A postcard seems positively friendly in comparison.

    2. Re:Do you think it's overkill? by Archfeld · · Score: 1

      Not if the lack turns my Kindle into a brick I don't. I wonder if the update contains something that they are going to activate in the near future, that will lock out those that don't have the update. Say some sort of underlying security update, or a change in the address for updates themselves. Like from themselves to say the NSA's home website :)

      Note : I really like my Kindle Paperwhite, and use it extensively, but only as an book substitute.

      --
      errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
    3. Re:Do you think it's overkill? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      They've contacted me on multiple occasions about what will happen if you don't update: You won't be able to buy new books.

      So if you're happy with what you've got then you're fine.

    4. Re:Do you think it's overkill? by rochrist · · Score: 2

      Well actually, that's exactly what my kindle did. Not a big fan of the new software either.

    5. Re:Do you think it's overkill? by Lisandro · · Score: 2

      No bricking. You just won't be able to use Amazon online services on your Kindle until you update.

    6. Re:Do you think it's overkill? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      The main thing is a certificate update. If you don't update it now, you won't be able to talk with their servers to get your books or automatically obtain updates once the old cert expires/is invalidated.

    7. Re:Do you think it's overkill? by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      That sounds a bit like a bonus to me.

    8. Re:Do you think it's overkill? by UK+Boz · · Score: 1

      I'm sure the NSA would love to know you're reading 50 shades of grey... Now please go back in your bunker.

      --
      www.boznz.com Simple solutions to complex problems.
    9. Re:Do you think it's overkill? by Archfeld · · Score: 1

      *whoosh* A swing and a miss.
      Lighten up Francis. Perhaps you should loosen your garter and corset a wee bit and let the blood flow to your brain.
      Cheers mate

      --
      errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
    10. Re:Do you think it's overkill? by Archfeld · · Score: 1

      Actually AFAIK mine is up to date. I'm not really concerned with the privacy aspect of my paperwhite since all I do with it is read e-books and I've no problem with my choice in literature being public knowledge. Right now I'm reading David Drake's 'Books of the Elements' series. I just recently finished some books by David Gatwood, an author I 'found' either here or Soylent can't remember which, but whom I do recommend.
      I do use an alternate ID and password for it as opposed to devices I regularly use for more sensitive things, like home banking and such.

      --
      errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
  4. Overkill? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Speaking of overkill, how about somebody burning lean tissue blogging over the fact that Amazon decided to send postcards to people.

    Why in god's sweet FUCK would I object to them going out of their way to send me a postcard to remind me that, if I want my Kindle to continue working, I better update the firmware?

    It's like all the tards who took the internet in droves because they got all bent out of shape that they got a free U2 album they'll never listen to from Apple.

    Jesus christ, talk about manufactured melodrama.

    1. Re:Overkill? by Infiniti2000 · · Score: 1

      100% agreement.

    2. Re:Overkill? by Lisandro · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Finally, some common sense in here. So we're punishing a company for not going the Microsoft route with upgrades and treating their customers with respect?

    3. Re:Overkill? by Tim+the+Gecko · · Score: 1

      Also the home routers these Kindles connect to are hardly wonderful examples of how to do security updates either. Maybe one firmware update and you're on your own until the router hits the e-waste bin.

    4. Re:Overkill? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Finally, some common sense in here. So we're punishing a company for not going the Microsoft route with upgrades and treating their customers with respect?

      More the assumption that they are going the Microsoft route. This is an update that essentially bricks your device if you don't get it. If you do get it there is a good chance there are "features" inline with planned obsolescence to get people to upgrade the device itself (which costs money.) You don't have to play Deus Ex to be untrusting of updates, just look what Microsoft did with XP and now Windows 7 and Server 2008 updates.

    5. Re:Overkill? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      "Punishing"?

      This is simply news as it's a somewhat unorthodox approach. Where did you get the idea that this was a negatively charged article? Not everything written on the internet is aggressively negative.

    6. Re:Overkill? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No disagreement over the Amazon postcard. But I understood about the U2 thing. It's like if someone put kiddie porn on your PC or phone, I mean you wouldn't even want to get close enough to it to delete it, and even after you deleted it, you'd probably have that nasty feeling like maybe some of it was still lurking on there. Probably safer to burn the thing, just to be sure.

    7. Re:Overkill? by Lisandro · · Score: 2, Insightful

      More the assumption that they are going the Microsoft route. This is an update that essentially bricks your device if you don't get it.

      Not it is not. Your device will work, you just wont be able to use it with Amazon online services.

      I hate to play Devil's advocate for a corporation here, but c'mon. They're not only being nice enough to keep supporting old hardware but actively letting you know on how to update.

    8. Re:Overkill? by show+me+altoids · · Score: 1

      As an employee of the USPS, I am also in 100% agreement.

      --
      I feel sorry for people that don't drink, because when they get up in the morning, that's as good as they're gonna feel
    9. Re:Overkill? by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 2

      It's like all the tards who took the internet in droves because they got all bent out of shape that they got a free U2 album they'll never listen to from Apple.

      I'm one of the people you're calling names, here: The reason I got 'bent out of shape' is not because I received a free album, but because I went to resume an audio book and instead that album started playing.

      Ridicule from you does not deter me from wanting to be in complete control of what my music device plays.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    10. Re:Overkill? by ShaunC · · Score: 1

      I'm with you, but the U2 thing isn't a great comparison. Many people had to pay for that "free" album in terms of data usage or overage costs when their iPhone automatically downloaded it over a metered telco data connection, which was the default setting at the time. Hopefully none of Amazon's postcards are arriving postage due!

      --
      Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
    11. Re:Overkill? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's just because this makes your job relevant a little bit.

    12. Re:Overkill? by HFBondsTrader · · Score: 0

      u mad bro?

    13. Re:Overkill? by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      Where did you get the idea that this was a negatively charged article?

      The use of the word "overkill" is a dead giveaway.

      This is no more "overkill" than the repeated letters Comcast sent me telling me I needed to upgrade my cable modem to "take advantage" of faster speeds. I think they said that in billing inserts, too, but they sent me at least a half a dozen letters over a six month period with that information.

      Of course I haven't upgraded my modem and nothing has stopped working, so we see how well that push campaign worked.

    14. Re:Overkill? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As an employee of the USPS, I am also in 100% agreement.

      That's just because this makes your job relevant a little bit.

      "thats_the_joke.jpg"

    15. Re:Overkill? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      *woooosh*

    16. Re:Overkill? by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 2, Insightful

      First world problem, that's for sure.

      Cop out.

      It could have easily have been something else on your phone that played instead.

      If hitting play was really that random on my phone then this wouldn't have upset me. Not that it matters anyway, if I wanted to listen to music that others have decided I should hear then I'd listen to the radio.

      All Apple needed to do was send out a coupon for the free album instead of shoveling it onto people's devices. Despite your protestations, no, you don't actually want the door to this particular form of marketing to be opened.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    17. Re: Overkill? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Still enjoying that DOCSIS.1 modem? Right on, brother.

    18. Re: Overkill? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They would have a poorly configured phone, then. Out of the box, Apple doesn't push anything large to you over GSM without asking. Of you told ITunes Store to download music OTA instead of only on WiFi, then it was just following your dumb instructions.

    19. Re: Overkill? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They would have a poorly configured phone, then. Out of the box, Apple doesn't push anything large to you over GSM without asking. Of you told ITunes Store to download music OTA instead of only on WiFi, then it was just following your dumb instructions.

      Setting the option allowing my phone to download the music or updates I requested over GSM is not the same as allowing random stuff I didn't request to download over GSM. For instance dropbox has an option that says "use GSM". If I check that the assumption is still that they are going to be using GSM for only the stuff I put in dropbox not some random movie dropbox decided to put in my dropbox account because "I might want it"

  5. Irony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    1) Get a Kindle in an attempt to reduce wasting paper
    2) Amazon sends everyone paper in the mail instead
    3) ????
    4) Profit...?

    1. Re:Irony by OhPlz · · Score: 1

      Yes, one postcard is just like multiple bound piles of paper.

  6. encryption by zlives · · Score: 1

    is this the update the disables encryption for the Trump fbi. /obvious troll

  7. Yeah, Firmware update by imatter · · Score: 1

    the one that removes the encryption.

  8. Hah hah! by pecosdave · · Score: 1

    I've got the Kindle Keyboard (third gen) - still my favorite model, I'll install if it prompts me - or if it quits working.
    My wife's first gen Paper-White - I'll leave that in her hands.
    My daughters cheap I believe fifth gen - I'm not sure she's been able to locate it for the past year. I've told her to tell me if she loses it so I can boot it from the account for financial security reasons, but that would require admitting she lost it so she would be happier if I weren't able to pay rent because they got in through her Kindle.

    Yep, I keep getting notices....
    I'll check the mailbox for the post card today....

    --
    The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
    1. Re:Hah hah! by safetyinnumbers · · Score: 1

      If you don't let your kindle update before the deadline, the help page says that you'll have to download an update to install from a PC. Leaving it charging overnight with wireless on is probably an easier option.

  9. Poor Update Process by TyIzaeL · · Score: 2

    I received an email encouraging me to update my 2015 Kindle not long ago. I tried to check for updates on the device but found nothing. Two weeks later, Amazon sent me a similar message again. After another update check, I still found nothing. I wasn't able to get the device to upgrade until I manually copied the firmware file to the device.

    1. Re:Poor Update Process by OhPlz · · Score: 3, Informative

      Their instructions missed a step because I had the same problem. It had to be plugged in with airplane mode off, which they got right. But instead of syncing, I had to actually navigate to the Kindle store from the device. When I did that, it grabbed the update automatically that night while it was charging. Even so, I still got the postcard.

    2. Re:Poor Update Process by jratcliffe · · Score: 1

      I had the exact same problem. Had to connect it to my laptop usb and transfer the firmware that way.

    3. Re:Poor Update Process by TyIzaeL · · Score: 1

      That makes sense. I don't use the Kindle store frequently so I never would have seen it there.

  10. I did the upgrade by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    I already upgraded my Kindle to a Kobo.

  11. And here we thought. . . by Salgak1 · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    . . . .that we owned the hardware. Silly people.

    I, for one, welcome our new Corporate Masters, and await the ultimate fusion, when we worship the fuzed heads of Bezos and Gates as our God. . .

    1. Re:And here we thought. . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And they own the services. So to continue using their services you have to update.

  12. Irony: by Hartree · · Score: 1

    Isn't this distressingly similar to sending smoke signals to tell people to move to the newer dial type telephones?

  13. Good to see proactivity on updates by kimgkimg · · Score: 1

    Well it's good to see someone being proactive about updates for a change. (As opposed to being on devices that never get patched.)

  14. Amazon update bricked stock Fire TV by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Maybe they're sending out paper postcards because their update system broke electronic updates altogether on specific Kindles, so a special manual fix is needed?

    While that is just speculation since I don't own a Kindle, I do have a Fire TV, and Amazon's automatic updates broke its wired networking about a month ago. The device reports that "Your Ethernet cable is disconnected", when it is clear that it is connected and working properly since switches confirm the link on their LEDs just fine, and I can even see the Fire TV's bootup packets on the router upstream. In other words, the hardware is entirely OK but Amazon's update screwed up the higher level embedded networking code.

    The above is a stock Fire TV (UK), not a hacked one or anything.

    If Amazon devs are so careless that they let updates brick Fire TVs, it's not impossible that certain ranges of Kindles have suffered a similar fate and need instructions on postcards sent by snail mail to rectify the failure.

    1. Re:Amazon update bricked stock Fire TV by Rukia · · Score: 1

      I had this same problem and decided to replace it with a chinese-built android set-top box with Kodi and google play pre-installed on it. The experience has made me very wary of updates pushed by amazon.

      Still, if anyone knows how to fix networking on the fireTV so it works again, I'd like to know.

    2. Re:Amazon update bricked stock Fire TV by jandrese · · Score: 1

      Maybe Amazon needs to rethink their update process? Or at least make the devices more diligent about warning the users that their internal certs are about to expire and that they need to turn on WiFi mode for a day or two?

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
  15. Not going to. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Sorry, you removed encryption for some unspecified reason, I"ll take my business elsewhere and SIDELOAD books to my kindle.

  16. Return address by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Huh, the return address on my card read:

    FBI Headquarters
    935 Pennsylvania Avenue
    NW Washington, D.C. 20535-0001

  17. Certificates certificates. by sims+2 · · Score: 1

    Where have I heard about certificates before?
    Oh yeah now I remember the AT&T Motorola 2210-02 dsl modem if it wasn't connected to the dsl network before the certificates expired it would be unable to connect to the dsl network and update its firmware if it was connected later.

    Great fun if you bought an extra to keep a spare on hand.

    http://thinkdiff.org/blg/?p=41

    --
    Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
  18. RED FLAG by MitchDev · · Score: 2

    Pushing that hard just for "security updates"? More like, what books did Amazon loses the rights to sell that they want to stealth delete from your kindle? Regular tablet with eBook reading software does the job quite nicely thank you.

    1. Re:RED FLAG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shut up, idiot. The only change is a fucking CA cert being updated, twat. Amazon are clearly about to kill a dodgy certificate, moron.

    2. Re:RED FLAG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They've proven before that they already have the functionality to remove books from users devices without individual updates. Why would the patch have anything to do with that? Your tin-foil hatting is bleeding into your judgement of reality where you can no longer think logically.

    3. Re:RED FLAG by MitchDev · · Score: 1

      So says the Coward...

  19. Not here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have a Kindle and I have not received any notice from Amazon about updates, via e-mail or postcard. If you read the article it says the author is also a Kindle owner and has not received any notice from Amazon either. So it seems Amazon is not all that concerned about getting customers to upgrade their devices.

  20. Transparency... by steppin_razor_LA · · Score: 2

    Urgency without transparency is the issue...

    --
    Evolution: love it or leave it
    1. Re:Transparency... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Urgency? They notified me about this months ahead of the "deadline" on multiple occasions which also included details on what would happen if I chose not to update which I was allowed to.

      What kind of transparency do you think would help the end-user in the context that isn't being provided?

  21. I called my sports book... by Lab+Rat+Jason · · Score: 1

    ...to ask what the odds were on "government mandated back door", to which he replied "redacted."

    --
    Which has more power: the hammer, or the anvil?
  22. I'm not updating after they sent me 3 emails by EmperorOfCanada · · Score: 1

    I refuse to update. I just turned off my wifi and will use my reader on downloaded books. Why the hell are they so in my face about this. With the way they treat their employees I have not only zero trust of Amazon, but actually have negative trust. I fully believe that if I order X and it will be here by Y that I will get X on or before Y and that my CC is safe. What I don't trust them to do is to not upgrade my kindle to watch my network or some such. After an upgrade that is this hysterical I don't even trust them to keep my wifi off when I have turned it off.

    To add some paranoid salt to this, I almost wonder if they are working with the government to have all the kindles look for someone. While Apple is doing its damnedest to keep me safe, I can see Amazon simply helping the government as part of a routine contract.

    1. Re:I'm not updating after they sent me 3 emails by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      While Apple is doing its damnedest to keep me safe

      LOL

    2. Re:I'm not updating after they sent me 3 emails by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To add some paranoid salt to this, I almost wonder if they are working with the government to have all the kindles look for someone.

      Hmm, and how would updating a 5 year old Kindle help the government find someone?

  23. Of course they'd send postcards by fiver-hoo · · Score: 1

    It's not like Amazon has any other way to communicate with me about my Kindle. Someone should invent a device - preferably a portable one, that I could hold in my hands. This device I'm envisioning would have the ability to connect DIRECTLY and SEAMLESSLY to services owned and controlled by Amazon. Amazon could then deliver messages to me, through this device.

    Maybe some day, in the far future, I could even read books on such a device! If it was ever to be invented.

  24. WiFi Only? by Desiree+Hindenburg · · Score: 1

    It is a tiny update with new certificates. Why are they requiring WiFi for third generation Kindles? Why could not they just push it over the air?

    Third generation Kindles require B or G WiFi and just do not work on new WiFi networks with legacy (less secure) modes off.

    Ridiculous.

  25. Drones Are Next by W.+Justice+Black · · Score: 1

    Update your Kindle by April 1 or receive a visit from our friendly drone fleet!

    --
    "Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana." --Groucho Marx