> privacy-respecting ebook reader
Suggestions?
Suggestions?
If you understand that and take proper precautions, I would imagine that any ereader that doesn't require registration would be fine. If you never put it online, it cannot accidentally go online. Plus it isn't tied to your name. Personally, I use Kobo. You have to jump through a hoop to bypass registration by modifying an SQLite database. Other than that there are no protections, so you aren't using sketchy software to realize that degree of privacy.
Libgen works with anonymizers.
You can download your books as you want and copy them to the device in many ways, including connecting the thing via USB to your pc and using it as an external storage unit. Sounds trivial but try to do that with a smartphone.
You can buy books from their shop if you make an account, but it is completely optional.
They have two privacy policies. The one which seems to cover their web site [1] and one which I assume is for their devices [2].
The latter says the following:
> We collect such non identified information concerning the Application:
> […]
> Usage Data includes information about how you use our Application. By Usage Data we mean: how you use your book library, information concerning which buttons on the Application you click, which you do not, how often do you use buttons, turning on/ off the device, setting font options, changing the interface language, sending archive, changing the library settings, setting the read mode. We collect these information to make our Services better for the end-customers. Understanding of your usage preference give us the opportunity to develop better Application, which will have higher reliability, usability, compressed functionality and extremely easy startup.
The first privacy policy [1] though says they do not collect any "Special Categories of Personal Data about you".
[1] https://pocketbook.ch/en-ch/privacy-policy
[2] https://pocketbook.ch/en-ch/reader-mobile-privacy-notice
With a pocketbook, you connect it and it is like you attached a USB stick.
Also, android encrypts the filesystem by default these days I believe. So unpowered fs access is a no go without a lot of work for a very niche use case.
Security doesn't really matter on a somewhat dumb e-reader though, so seems like sensible defaults for the respective devices tbh.
But it was _almost_ worth it. It's a really great reader, especially for reading PDFs.
After some software update about 6 months ago it got halfway uninstalled somehow and I did a factory reset and haven't reinstalled it yet. I recall reading that it's not on KOreader's side, and they can'tfix. :(
Apple Books thinks I want to put tiny 1mb epub files in my iCloud, which is full (no idea why) and then it won't save them. So when I reopen, now the book's gone even though I have like 40 gigs free on my phone. Simple interface, simple list of books to choose from, etc. And now the damned thing's gone and I have no idea why.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2425330
Alternatively like me you can just remove the 3g modem in it's entirety:
https://peekread.info/tech/20210120-removing-3g-modem-from-a...
What’s the symptom?
Besides, "airplane" mode is just an icon on the screen. If it has WiFi with a known password (or without one) within reach there's really no way of knowing if it's phoning home.
Amazon never denied the fact that they use their devices to collect data. That's why they are (relatively) cheap. Kindle, Echo, Fire TV - they are al presumed to provide data to Amazon on customer's preferences allowing for better ad targeting etc. If this data can be sold to third parties, even better, more revenue. This is not illegal and I'm not even sure it's unethical, as long as the buyers are aware of the deal.