I get it, it's not the device for you. You can leave it disconnected from WiFi and sideload everything if you are that paranoid.

It feels like the "Just don't do X if you are that paranoid" attitude is singlehandedly responsible for the increasingly egregious privacy invasions from the last decade.

I didn't say that. I'm saying that if you don't like how the device operates you can still use it in other ways. If the Kindles forced WiFi to be active and connected to Amazon servers, I'd see your point.

Lol. "Paranoid" is such a loaded word. Not really suited for disliking something which is openly known to happen.

Are you "paranoid about catching gonorrhea" if you decide to wear a condom? :-)

Yes. I've been happily married for twenty years, so my perspective is likely to be different. ;-)

A desire for privacy is not paranoia.

You don't even need a threat to desire privacy. It's a human right.

Surely you see that a desire for privacy is not the same as:

> I personally don't want a list of all the "subversive literature" I read nicely compiled for corporations and government to exploit

What don't you like about that sentence?

> subversive literature

Many books I read were on a list (as in, jail for possession) less than 40 years ago where I live.

> nicely compiled for corporations

It's literally the explicit purpose of collecting this data.

> and government

Yes, there's no way a government could ever exploit detailed data about their citizen's behaviour, inclinations, political opinions, etc.

I do not, that seems like a very basic expression of a desire for privacy.

Not wanting your literature choices under surveillance is a common type of privacy that many people, myself included, desire.

Eh, the comment was hyperbolic at best and paranoid at worst.

The library knows which books you checked out, and the book store knows which books you've bought. Is this really that much different?

The library does not sell my data to thousands of corporations as its core business model. At the book store I can pay cash if I so desire. Yes you're right, it's truly no different from a detailed live-log of everything you read, analysed, packaged, and sold to whomever pays for it.

I'm with you. But, as others have noted, there are ways around it, even before there's a jailbreak available:

(1) Never connect the device to the Internet. There's really no reason to.

(2) Use KFX Output in Calibre, blocking access to the Amazon servers. This is a bit of a hassle but it is doable. Especially since books take hours to read, so you're really only doing the work for a few minutes to get hours of spy-free enjoyment.

Why buy a Kindle at that point? I have a Likebook Mars that has an SD card slot that I use to load books on to it, which I have never connected to the internet.

In general, I find that Kindle has the best backlight, is fastest, and has a generally very smooth UI. Now, I haven't used the latest version of the OS, so that might have changed, but in general all the non-Kindle E-Ink devices I've used, I've wished it were a Kindle without the spy stuff.

Out of curiosity, do you have ghosting problems with the Mars? You can also connect a kindle to USB and use the internal flash without ever connecting it to the internet.

No more than any other eink? I haven't noticed anything in particular, but I haven't been looking for ghosting.

It works great for my purposes.

It's reasonably priced pretty decent eink reader.