kindle call home

[pboss]

Wait a second. Are you guys saying that my innocently sleeping Kindle is part of Amazon's secret bot network or cloud computing infrastructure? Just what I've long-suspected...

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by pboss

Wait a second. Are you guys saying that my innocently sleeping Kindle is part of Amazon's secret bot network or cloud computing infrastructure? Just what I've long-suspected...

only for these people;

[Zorz]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

how do you figure?

Originally Posted by Mike L

Surely not. How would it communicate without the wireless feature?

I'm not saying they do, I am just saying you cannot guarantee that they don't. There is nothing stopping the kindle's software to periodically phoning home whenever it wants, even if you have the wireless turned off. It simply turns the wireless on, doesn't tell you and connects. If it can connect it reports back and if it cant then it doesn't.

It wouldn't be a hard system to create, maybe a 20 lines of code at most. Again, I am not saying they do this, I am though saying that is is possible and easily done if they wanted to.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by Zorz

I'm not saying they do, I am just saying you cannot guarantee that they don't. There is nothing stopping the kindle's software to periodically phoning home whenever it wants, even if you have the wireless turned off. It simply turns the wireless on, doesn't tell you and connects. If it can connect it reports back and if it cant then it doesn't.

It wouldn't be a hard system to create, maybe a 20 lines of code at most. Again, I am not saying they do this, I am though saying that is is possible and easily done if they wanted to.

spouting nonsense like this creates more of these;

[Zorz]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

spouting nonsense like this creates more of these;

Living in ignorance is better for you I guess. To each their own.

[Mike L]

In fact, Zorz is right. It is technically possible for a Kindle 2 to communicate with an Amazon server even if the user has switched wireless off. It would be pretty nefarious, but if Amazon really wanted to build that ability into their systems, they could.

Of course, the device in question would have to be in wireless range. If there is no wireless connection, then communication is obviously impossible.

I think Zorz's point is that the ability to switch wireless on and off within the Kindle is controlled by software, and, according to the old adage: What you can do in software you can undo in software.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by Mike L

In fact, Zorz is right. It is technically possible for a Kindle 2 to communicate with an Amazon server even if the user has switched wireless off. It would be pretty nefarious, but if Amazon really wanted to build that ability into their systems, they could.

Of course, the device in question would have to be in wireless range. If there is no wireless connection, then communication is obviously impossible.

I think Zorz's point is that the ability to switch wireless on and off within the Kindle is controlled by software, and, according to the old adage: What you can do in software you can undo in software.

and that leads to tin hat thinking as well. if any industry were doing that don't you think it would be leaked to the press in a New York second?

[Zorz]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

and that leads to tin hat thinking as well. if any industry were doing that don't you think it would be leaked to the press in a New York second?

Do most people care? I'd contend most today no longer care for their privacy with the google and facebooks of the world collecting all sorts of data on us. We give them personal information, as well as our email. We let them record our search and buying histories, you get the point. Even if they were, it would take a lot of testing to detect. You would literally need to put the unit in a Faraday cage and listen on the GSM frequencies in which it works. It's not worth the effort to most people.

As I said before, Im not saying they do, they likely don't. You just cant with certainty say that they do not have said ability. Calling people buts and tin foil hat wearers also doesn't help. A certain level of caution should always be used, and putting full trust in a company is a but ridiculous. You never know what people use their kindle's for. It's possible ( but not likely) one of our elected representatives uses such a device to overview confidential documents. Do we really want confidential documents in the hands of private enterprise? From there anybody can gain access.

[kindlekitten]

you need to check out more of these threads if you think people don't care. and yes, it does create an atmosphere of tin hatness. I do not believe I brought any anatomy into the conversation

[iphitus]

Originally Posted by Zorz

Do most people care? I'd contend most today no longer care for their privacy with the google and facebooks of the world collecting all sorts of data on us. We give them personal information, as well as our email. We let them record our search and buying histories, you get the point. Even if they were, it would take a lot of testing to detect. You would literally need to put the unit in a Faraday cage and listen on the GSM frequencies in which it works. It's not worth the effort to most people.

Or given that Kindle is jailbroken, it'd probably just take a very short and trivial shell script. Or it could be opened up, and have a LED soldered onto the GSM chipset somewhere.

However if it was phoning home, people would notice. When not in use or out about, my K2i lives near my computer speakers, so I often get that typical mobile phone interference when it connects.

Zorz: It's the elected representative's failure if he places the document there. For Amazon to access it implies an ability to send a document home over wireless. Amazon would get in a lot of hot water for that unless it was declared outright. If it's a digital document, it's already been exposed to equally silly "potential exposures to private enterprise" right throughout the chain of creation, any transmission or transfer.

There's caution and then there's undue paranoia.

[Zorz]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

you need to check out more of these threads if you think people don't care. and yes, it does create an atmosphere of tin hatness. I do not believe I brought any anatomy into the conversation

Thats an incredibly small subset of society. Do you use google, bing, yahoo? if so they you don't care, or at least you dont take active care in your privacy. I use scroogle and my own email server.

Or given that Kindle is jailbroken, it'd probably just take a very short and trivial shell script. Or it could be opened up, and have a LED soldered onto the GSM chipset somewhere.

However if it was phoning home, people would notice. When not in use or out about, my K2i lives near my computer speakers, so I often get that typical mobile phone interference when it connects.

Zorz: It's the elected representative's failure if he places the document there. For Amazon to access it implies an ability to send a document home over wireless. Amazon would get in a lot of hot water for that unless it was declared outright. If it's a digital document, it's already been exposed to equally silly "potential exposures to private enterprise" right throughout the chain of creation, any transmission or transfer.

There's caution and then there's undue paranoia.

Like I said anything is possible. Putting complete trust in a company is silly.