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Razors Edge

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Last night, I finished a book on my Kindle - a book I got "free" from Amazon First Reads months ago and finally started a couple weeks ago.

This morning, I got an e-mail from Amazon saying, "What to read after Spellbreaker". 

Seriously? It is letting Amazon know when I finish a book on my Kindle.  I get that it stays connected via wifi because it always offers new book ideas and requests you to rate a finished book, but this is a first with this type of message.  I guess I can stick it into airplane mode most of the time, but even so, it will surely check in any time I am on wifi again.

@dennis probably runs into this sort of thin a lot!

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33 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Last night, I finished a book on my Kindle - a book I got "free" from Amazon First Reads months ago and finally started a couple weeks ago.

This morning, I got an e-mail from Amazon saying, "What to read after Spellbreaker". 

Seriously? It is letting Amazon know when I finish a book on my Kindle.  I get that it stays connected via wifi because it always offers new book ideas and requests you to rate a finished book, but this is a first with this type of message.  I guess I can stick it into airplane mode most of the time, but even so, it will surely check in any time I am on wifi again.

@dennis probably runs into this sort of thin a lot!

Dude, it's amazon. They invented the kindle to sell you stuff. The kindle fire tablet is the worst. It is designed to sell you stuff from amazon. 

You sleep with the devil and you are bound to bet burned.

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2 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

It is letting Amazon know when I finish a book on my Kindle?

Not only is it reporting back to Amazon what you are reading, it will report back if you went back to re-read sections.  Your personal information is worth money.

 

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7 minutes ago, jdc2000 said:

Not only is it reporting back to Amazon what you are reading, it will report back if you went back to re-read sections.  Your personal information is worth money.

 

You readily see it when you his a section of a book, and it states that 134 people have highlighed a section of text.  Crazy.

 

30 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

Did you purchase the Kindle with or without ads and special offers.

It has the cover ads.  They rotate ads based upon their agreements and also what they think I might buy.

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I have a Big Sister who reads more than I do. She’s an excellent source of information as to what to read next, and will frequently loan me books when I am without. She doesn’t even ask me for detailed rating reviews of her recommendations, other than a casual question of if I liked it or not. And her name isn’t Alexa. Would recommend.

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5 hours ago, sheep_herder said:

What do young people today think about these types of intrusions into our lives?

My 25 year old son has all  but sworn off any type of social media.  He (with an engineers mind) looked closer into it after watching the Social Dilemma.  He has FB to keep tabs on his family but now that is it.  He is hesitant to even put his bike rides on line because of who might have access to the data

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12 minutes ago, Zephyr said:

My 25 year old son has all  but sworn off any type of social media.  He (with an engineers mind) looked closer into it after watching the Social Dilemma.  He has FB to keep tabs on his family but now that is it.  He is hesitant to even put his bike rides on line because of who might have access to the data

Everyone should watch the Social Dilemma.  It's got a lot of great points that folks should consider. Of course, most folks minds are made up on most things - likely due to quite a few of the things mentioned in SD, but there are plenty of other poisonous things out there beyond just FB, IG, or other stuff. 

If you don't know what's for sale, then most likely YOU are for sale :D 

I especially like Jaron Lanier.  An especially salient point he makes is about looking a things you encounter on-line.  In Facebook or the like, your "perspective" is completely tailored to what the BUSINESS (and the runaway algorithms) want you to see and perceive.  You're going to get not just a lot of confirmation bias, but also be pushed further down rabbit holes of conspiracy.  You are slowly but surely being radicalized and commercialized and sold.  Yay!  On the other hand, head to Wikipedia, type in COVID-19 or some other "hot" conspiracy topic, and you and I and your flat-Earth cousin and your anti-vax sister will ALL SEE THE SAME article. No drawing from RT or Faux News or MSNBC or whoever your boogieman is to tweak you further in one direction, and then a link to even further nonsense. 

 

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