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Comment by smithza | Hacker News Reader

I have allowed amazon e-books into my firewall after I vet they are from a publisher I can trust... I do not have interest in allowing books from strangers into my firewall. Some authors on amazon have posted their books DRM-free (Brandon Sanderson is an example).

I usually check to see if the publisher sells the e-book directly. If so, I will consider buying there. Usually amazon has a cheaper price, and I buy from them and strip the DRM.

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That's bizarre. If anything, Amazon ebooks are worse than anything you can download, as Amazon retains some ability to remotely erase or alter them if your device remains connected to the internet, which pirated books never will.

That is not a problem with the ebooks it is a problem with using a Kindle.

If you download your book from Amazon to your disk e.g. in Calibre Amazon can't touch it.

I have many amazon books and I read then in pub based readers on my iPhone.

Even on the Kindle I think I am safe as I tend not to use the Amazon link but upload via Calibre so what is on the Kindle does not match what Amazon thinks I have on the Kindle.

Correct. I do not open amazon e-books in the Kindle app. I jailbroke my kindle to allow for OPDS connection to my calibre server, and put it in airplane mode when not copying books from the server.

I am puzzled by the mention of a firewall. Are you afraid of code embedded in books? Is that a common attack vector?

Firewall is used as a metaphor as it was in networking parlance. What is in the firewall I can trust. I do not trust pirated content. Period.

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