Standard Ebooks is a fantastic project. I have been supporting them for years. I love their attention to detail of typography and their approach to building the books in the open, from source code, with open source tools. I wish their project existed in many other languages! The only caveat is that they have to wait for books that are in the public domain.

> privacy-respecting ebook reader

Suggestions?

Kobo seems to work readily offline simply out of box. Plug in usb-c to upload books?

A kindle will do the same thing. Everything is privacy-respecting if there's no internet connection.

kindles have cellular modems

Not all of them and they are surprisingly easy to remove. At least the old ones are: https://peekread.info/tech/20210120-removing-3g-modem-from-a...

They've stopped making Kindles with modems. Latest gen ones are WiFi only. Of course, the hardware might still be in there, just not available for book purchasing.

I really enjoy my Kobo Libra H2O with KOReader installed.

My new Kobo refused to start out of the box, without making an account. Very disappointing.

I created an account, but then installed KOreader on my Libra 2 and just read books through that. It's FOSS, more customizable, and supports OPDS feeds which can do pretty neat things like finding articles from HN[0].

[0] https://github.com/BHSPitMonkey/news2reader

I read that KOreader is unstable on the Libra 2[0], so I haven’t installed it yet even though I would like to. What has been your experience running it?

[0] https://github.com/koreader/koreader/issues/8414

I had it installed for a while, and there were fairly frequent crashes (i.e. about once every 8 hours of reading) requiring a reboot.

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. :(

It's been perfectly stable for me since I got the device a few months ago, but I also don't read for hours at a time like the other commenter. It's possible that it leaks memory after viewing several hundred pages or something like that.

Can confirm you need to log into your Kobo account to get it going.

I keep my kindle in airplane mode.

Do you need to keep it 100% of the time in airplane mode? Couldn't it be queuing stats to upload them once it leaves AP mode?

With a jailbroken kindle you can install the BBB (Block Big Brother) filter on the firewall (it's running linux under the hood after all):

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 happens when you buy Kindle in EU, I would think when you first turn it on they would have to ask if you want to be tracked and if not would have to fuck off.

That's a good question I couldn't find anything in my cursory searches. Knowing Amazon because all the focus has been on Web browsers and cookies there might not be much available on the ebook front atm.

Kindle with ads has been observed to, after a couple alerts that it’s been offline for too long, just ignore airplane mode at some point.

I have a wifi only model that has never seen a wifi password, and haven’t noticed this.

What’s the symptom?

Can confirm. Happened with me couple times. It would just go off the airplane more altogether.

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.

I keep it 100% in airplane mode and use calibre to manage my library. So far it’s been a pleasure, reliable and predictable.

I like the Marvin3 reader on iPhone. Haven't found something I like on the desktop though.

Is it still on app store or just not available in the US?

Oh shit. My bad. I don't know honestly... I got it a couple years ago, and it was everything that Books wasn't.

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.

The underlying problem is obtaining the books. Even if you never register your ereader and never let it go online, you are just shifting the problem to a computer. They loose fine-grained details about what you are reading, but that's about it.

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.

> you are just shifting the problem to a computer.

Libgen works with anonymizers.

Pocketbook https://pocketbook.ch

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.

I wasn't aware of Pocketbook, interesting to see a smaller competitor in this market. Unfortunately they might run into the same issues discussed in this article.

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

Can't you just never connect your device to the internet though?

Are you saying it's hard to get phones recognized as external storage devices? I've not had this issue with any of my android phones or my Boox e-reader which runs android.

Yes, that is what I meant, I always had problems with it. Iirc Android uses the mtp protocol for file transfer, it is not like accessing external storage. Before I can read / write files to the phone's storage I have to perform some steps on the phone's UI (this already rules out doing this while the phone is off); the exact steps changed between android versions. And then if I manage to remember, not all files and directories are visible.

With a pocketbook, you connect it and it is like you attached a USB stick.

Gotcha. Yeah, you get a notification from which you can swap mode. Default being charging only, for security reasons.

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.

A year ago, I bought a PocketBook InkPad Lite for this purpose, and keep its WiFi disabled, as an interim solution, until hardware&firmware that guarantees privacy.

I buy non-DRM ebooks (so far, they cost about twice Kindle prices), and `rsync` them to the ereader over USB. More info: https://www.neilvandyke.org/ebooks/

Save money by buying the normal book and pirating the non-restricted version

Yeah, I read most of my books on an e-reader. I’ve tried to pay for my ebooks but I’ve rapidly stopped. It’s such an horror shitshow. They managed to recreate the same DRM nonsense which didn’t worked for the movie and music industry.

The final straw was that time where I bought an ebook on a popular library website. I tried to open it on my computer, I knew it had DRM so I wasn’t surprised to have to install this Adobe DRM nonsense.

However during the installation, I just clicked on « Skip » when they asked for my Adobe account. Yeah it worked ! I could read my ebook on my computer, now it’s time to transfer it to my Adobe DRM compatible e-reader.

Well, fat chance, Mr book "owner", your book has been linked to your computer and not to your ereader Adobe account, you are stuck.

I said a lot of words kids shouldn’t hear that day.

In fact, I love e-reader, it’s practical, it’s lightweight, you can throw your entire library on a tiny sd card but I can’t stand this arrogance.

Contrary to digital music or movies, books are still superior objects in all aspects. They are sometimes beautiful, you can do what you want with them. You can own them or give them or borrow them or … And still, the industry thinks they can sell you those unpractical DRM files at mostly the same price (when it’s not more) ? That’s arrogant and they can go f themselves.

Now I only buy real books and anything on my ereader comes from Z-Library or a torrent tracker. At least they are files I can own.

This assumes that buying the normal book gives you protection from prosecution. I am not sure whether you really can assume this.

Meanwhile in my jurisdiction, as long as I don't share with the public, I am free to download unencumbered ebooks and other media when I find them. No need to buy something for hope of non-prosecution.

You've assumed avoiding prosecution was the aim! I feel it's underwood around the literati that it's trivial to avoid being caught and so anyone who hands over money is doing so for morality or convenience. For most e-books (anything mass-market or academic) the convenience is better for piracy so my suggestion was for someone who didn't want to feel they weren't properly rewarding the author/publisher.

My bad, sorry.

However: We all know that creators don't get the whole money you pay for some works. If I would want to support a creator I would try to find a way to support directly.

In other words I find it a bad idea to buy a book as a way to donate.

Buying a book does much more for an author who isn't already famous than just giving them money does. It raises their visibility, making it more likely that publishers will bite on a second book by them. It also pays the editors, typesetters, etc. - the author isn't the only creative person involved, and every heavy reader can think of examples of authors who have good ideas but desperately need an editor.

Thus rewarding the DRM services with more money. If you’re going to pay when you could’ve gotten it for free, might as well keep alive the service that respects your rights instead of strengthening the one that violates them.

Not the parent, but I read "buying the normal book" as buying actual paperbacks.

Buying a physical copy of a book so you can pirate the digital version isn’t legally sound, plus it is a major impactful hassle.

Could I perhaps buy a digital version for my local library and then borrow it from them for the same duration as I'm using the pirated file?

> I buy non-DRM ebooks (so far, they cost about twice Kindle prices),

Curious about this one. The price is set by the publisher, so it's not like you can just opt to pay for a DRM or a DRM-free copy of the book at checkout.

I assume you mean that the publishers who offer DRM-free books tend to be more expensive? That might track if they're indie publishers, since they can't afford to be loss-leaders on a product.

But FWIW, Tor Books offers all of their stuff DRM free across the major platforms (Amazon, Kobo, Google Play, B&N, Apple Books, etc.) and they go on sale just as often as the major publishers, in my experience.

Example from that link I gave: "For O'Reilly books, they link to eBooks.com for non-DRM copies. So far, these seem to cost about twice what the Kindle versions of the books do, [...]"

What’s a good place to get non-DRM books?

Can you give me an example of a pricacy-respective ebook reader?

I recently bought a Kobo Nia, and then returned it because it required me to create an account before I could use it.

Afterwards I got a PocketBook Basic Lux 4. This I have been using without having had to create an account. I've also never connected it to any wifi. However, I have no way of knowing, without taking significant effort to investigate, whether it's not connecting to free wifi's and relaying back to home my books list etc..

It’s really easy to hack a kobo to use it without registering:

https://jacobalbano.com/2021/06/24/setting-up-a-kobo-without...

Ok but why would I use the device that I have to trick, when a device that doesn't require an account from factory is available? I don't wanna deal with a company that builds ebooks with the expectation that I need to register to some account.

I bought Clara 2e and was very disappointed with the requirement to create an account.

After some googling I found you can start it in "sideloader" mode. To do that I plugged it in as USB device and updated a config file by adding "sideloaderMode=true". After restart it skipped account creation and allowed me to start reading the books.

I use Calibri to manage my books and collections. Haven't found how to add dictionaries as of yet but I think it can be done too.

> I have no way of knowing, without taking significant effort to investigate, whether it's not connecting to free wifi's and relaying back to home my books list etc.

I think this is bordering on the unreasonable to be honest. There is no reason to assume it's doing this, and it would be wildly illegal (in EU at least).