Wouldn't this depend on whether Amazon kept internal records of who did what highlighting? If it were totally anonymous (which is very possible technologically) then this wouldn't bother me. It would be the equivalent of Google's top topics.

Are those Most/Recently Heavily Highlighted Passages lists filtered at all? I can't imagine that they would allow anything on there.

FINALLY a real story about how the kindle sucks. Only took you 23485 tries.

remember how last week you chided Amazon for *not* helping readers to keep track of what other readers were highlighting?

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive…

btw, why have I suddenly started seeing LOTS of Nooks on metro buses. Do people love them? The initial reviews were so-so, but is it actually a decent product?

ESKIMO

You have absolutely no evidence that Amazon is tying any of this information to a specific user account. They could be, but my guess is that they are not.

If you are worried about this, then you should be worried about TiVo or Comcast recording not only what you watch but what you fast forward through. You should be worried about Google recording your searches. As long as they anonymize the data, it's no big deal.

I also can't imagine that they'd want to hold on to user specific data, that would set themselves up for all sorts of lawsuits.

Highlight something, then load your book on another device. If the highlights are there, then they are linking it to a certain account in some way.

That was the only reason I could come up with as to why they were even doing this.

Of course they "track what books you're reading" -- they're in your account. That's how they got on your Kindle in the first place -- you bought them from Amazon. They're sitting right there in your account. You can log in to Amazon and see them all listed there, and even download them again if you need to.

Freaking out because they're "watching you" is like freaking out that VISA has your credit card number OMG.

As Joe points out, lots of websites track usage like Kindle highlighting, and if it's de-identified it doesn't matter in the slightest. You voluntarily give away much more personal information every day.

And anyone highlighting anything in the Anarchist's Cookbook is probably going to make themselves known shortly anyways, when they blow off their hands or aspirate a chunk of flaming banana peel. That book is 99% bullshit.

"Kindle users should expect a reasonable amount of privacy when using Amazon’s product."

#1, no one in today's world should *expect* any amount of privacy on a device so constantly tethered to the internet. It would be nice if it were true, but basically everything you use is tied to you in some way, to expect otherwise is folly.

#2, like arbeck mentioned, there isn't any evidence this is being tied to specific users, for all anyone knows, the data could be completely anonymous.

You don't have any privacy on an iPad either, it's just not as obvious.

And Visa does have your credit card number - and your home address!

@11 huh? Explain?

@ 11, yeah, I want to read your explanation. With links, or it didn't happen.

Welcome to the cloud.

Has anyone noticed the godawful smell in the new Elliott Bay Books? What is that, paint stripper and fiberglass adhesive? Acetone with polyurethane maybe? Kind of gave me a headache and made me wonder if it was healthy to breathe that stuff. Cute store though.

@2:

What a great way to sabotage it. Get a coordinated reader effort together and have them all highlight an unbelievably obscene passage from some text o other, then see what happens.

Since I'm the only one who asked about privacy questions re:highlighting in comments to Friday's post, I'll take the credit/derision for turning on the light in Paul's brain/paranoia on my part--but I'll ask again the other question I asked there (as a non-user of e-books in any form, on any platform): Kindle lets you add annonotations of your own, right? Annotations are much less "passive" in a sense than highlighting--you might highlight for many reasons (quote for Aunt Sally, look up an unfamiliar word, win a bet over some factoid, etc., etc.), but annotations are direct evidence of your thought processes in relation to a passage you have read. Is this not scary? It makes NO SENSE that an organization with such data available to them would not at least make use of it for marketing. The inferences that are made in regard to your grocery purchases alone, when you use a club/rewards card, are astounding.

@15 is the explanation for @11.

Plus, due to the single signon nature, if you leave it at the bar while someone watches it, or even at home with guests at a party, it automagically became insecure.

Privacy is just a concept that no longer exists in practice.

Re: 18

"annonotations" is, of course, a highbrow way of spelling "annotations."

@4: You're ignoring the difference between choosing to share specific highlights/passages and having Amazon pull all of your data by default.

@21 but that's in the fine print that says "oh and we own your soul" when you "bought" it.

I guess I just don't see how you imagined that Amazon was able to back-up your purchases, annotations, and highlights without storing a copy.

Gosh, if only there were a way to read the text of a book without wondering if a big corporation was looking over your shoulder! Something like a non-internet Kindle, or an un-plugged Nook. We could call it a Binary Nook. A book!

Thank you, ReadingGirl and ~ink.

@25, then someone needs to invent a writing instrument with bright-colored ink, such that passages you wanted to return to would be "Hi-lited".

That would be cool.

Here's an idea: BUY A FUCKING PRINTED BOOK. ONE MADE WITH PAPER AND INK. THEN STORE IT IN YOUR HOME, WHICH AT LEAST IN THEORY IS PROTECTED FROM UNREASONABLE SEARCH AND SEIZURE.

Sony Reader for the win. Nyah nyah nyah.

You have no privacy with Qwest either, the router/modem they force you to buy keeps a log of every website and ip address you connect to and the only way to turn it off is to telnet into the thing and break it. I'm going VPN, and I won't use a device that won't let me use VPN as well, they're out to get us!!111one

For those with unregistered users turned off, this comment from ReadingGirl is illuminating:

It is easy to not send your highlights and annotations on your Kindle to Amazon. It is:
Menu (button) -> Settings -> Menu (button) -> Disable Annotations Backup.

Doing this means you will not have a back-up of your notes in case of catastrophic failure, but you will not be sending them to Amazon. Of course, to know this you might have to actually read the Kindle "Welcome Guide", which I realize is too difficult for some people.

Paul, I have some news that might alarm you.

The Stranger and its parent company are recording that I'm reading this article.

The Stranger and its parent company know that I am commenting on your article.

The Stranger and its parent company are using the browsing data they collected from me to sell advertising.

The Stranger and its parent company have not provided me a way to opt out from this data collection.

As a result, Paul, I will have to boycott The Stranger and its parent company.