Does kobo spy?

[Jane Eyre]

Hi guys.
In your opinion, does kobo track users' activity? Are there any concrete risks about sideloaded ebooks from Internet while syncing the ereader? Does kobo spy us and see our files inside?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Jane Eyre

Hi guys.
In your opinion, does kobo track users' activity? Are there any concrete risks about sideloaded ebooks from Internet while syncing the ereader? Does kobo spy us and see our files inside?

Kobo respects Canada's privacy laws.

[Jane Eyre]

Oh good...but..what about my country, Italy?

[DNSB]

Kobo follows Canadian privacy laws unless the local laws are stricter in which case they will be followed. As far as I can tell, the only information Kobo collects and sends home on sideloaded books are page turns, completion and reading time. They do not collect information on the title/author/other metadata of a book you are reading.

So they will know that you have read 340 page flips and have been reading for 132 minutes in your current book. They will not know that you have been reading MacGyver's Guide to IEDs by Ima Pseudonym.

[Aleron Ives]

If you're really worried about such things, you can keep WiFi permanently disabled and sideload everything using sideload mode. You can even sideload firmware updates, if you so desire.

[HLS]

Originally Posted by Jane Eyre

Hi guys.
In your opinion, does kobo track users' activity? Are there any concrete risks about sideloaded ebooks from Internet while syncing the ereader? Does kobo spy us and see our files inside?

Don't you think it's a little obvious. Of course they track our usage,

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by HLS

Don't you think it's a little obvious. Of course they track our usage,

The question is not if they track but rather what they track. As far as I can tell, my earlier response gave what they track.

[Jane Eyre]

Originally Posted by HLS

Don't you think it's a little obvious. Of course they track our usage,

So, we shouldn't sideload any unauthorized epub.... but, I find wise to keep internet off but, the thing is, and what if one use kobo Plus contemporarily?

Have you all seen this?

[JSWolf]

you can load whatever eBooks you want. Kobo doesn't track what side loaded eBooks you have on your Kobo

[mikeayers]

Can they track if you are using KOREADER?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by mikeayers

Can they track if you are using KOREADER?

Kobo can not track reading time/page turns/whatever when using KOReader since that information is not stored into your Kobo ereader's database.

Originally Posted by Jane Eyre

So, we shouldn't sideload any unauthorized epub.... but, I find wise to keep internet off but, the thing is, and what if one use kobo Plus contemporarily?

You can sideload any epub you want. Though I would like to know exactly what you mean by an unauthorized epub? Kobo Plus needs to track the time read since that is the basis of payment to the authors. Since you have synced the book from Kobo, they already have the title/author/other metadata information.

Originally Posted by Jane Eyre

Have you all seen this?
{youtube video link removed}

Sideloaded mode was added in Kobo firmware 4.31.19086 in Jan., 2022 and was discussed at that time. See this message from @davidfor for more information

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Jane Eyre

So, we shouldn't sideload any unauthorized epub....

No one cares whether your sideloaded books are "unauthorized" (whatever that means) or not. Kobo, Amazon and other retailers are not police. If you mean sideloaded books with the DRM removed, I've done that for over 12 years. As I said, no one cares.

[Apollyon202]

Originally Posted by Jane Eyre

Hi guys.
In your opinion, does kobo track users' activity? Are there any concrete risks about sideloaded ebooks from Internet while syncing the ereader? Does kobo spy us and see our files inside?

If you are using a device which connects to the internet you may expect the worst.
It is very likely that most companies, if not all, collect all available data about their users, whenever possible.
Even if Kobo currently does not collect metadata from sideloaded books, can you be certain they will never do so in the future?

One might ask, 'Who cares if they know what I read, when, and for how long?' By itself, it may not seem harmful to anyone. However, the issue arises when your reading habits become just a small fragment of the extensive data collected from you throughout your lifetime. What seems irrelevant today could potentially be incriminating tomorrow.

Personally I use my Kobo devices in sideloaded mode, convert my epubs with kepubify and then copy the books to the device. Wifi is always disabled and I see no reason to use it anymore.

The devices' MAC addresses are also blocked in the firewall just to make sure they cannot connect to the internet in any circumstances.
I don't think though that you can do this with Kobo plus subscription. I buy the books, DeDRM them, so even if the kobo store closes for any reason in the future (not likely, but who knows) I can keep my books on my devices indefinitely, and, of course, read them at any time without the watchful eyes of the Big Brother.

Also here is a somewhat in depth analisis about e-books and privacy: https://ebookfriendly.com/ebooks-pri...hings-to-know/

[deleted2]

Before using your Kobo, you might want watch this video : How to make the perfect tin foil hat using science.

[Penny]

It's hilarious but also borderline concerning the level of paranoia that some people have regarding their OPsec. *Note* I agree that keeping good OPsec is a necessity especially when acquiring "sideloaded books".

Outside of that, I can pretty much guarantee that no agency/company has the bandwidth or resources to track individual user reading habits for incriminating habits. If anyone is truly concerned about privacy then they should also be aware that creating an account on a public forum, making a thread, commenting on posts has already started a paper trial (i.e. email used to register account, IP tracking/VPN usage on site visits, grammar patterns in posts/comments, etc.).

Take off the tin foil hat and relax, you won't be on FBIs most wanted list for reading your books.