back to article Adobe spies on readers: EVERY DRM page turn leaked to base over SSL

Adobe has tweaked its Digital Editions 4 desktop ebook reader to now encrypt the data it secretly sends back to headquarters – data that details a user's reading habits. Previously, information on every single tome accessed by Digital Editions 4 was phoned home unencrypted, allowing anyone eavesdropping on a network to …

  1. Version 1.0 Silver badge

    I must mention this to the wife

    I guess it's safe for her to go back to read "50 Shades" at work now ...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Trollface

      Re: I must mention this to the wife

      Just as long as she doesn't work at GCHQ. Then again, they may like people who identify with Mr. Grey.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I must mention this to the wife

        Heh, heh ... yes, well, there is another book on that subject released a few weeks ago. Fortunately it is still under the radar ... just like me :-D

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I must mention this to the wife

          1 thumb down already?! Don't blame me! Blame the overloaded book reviewing community. When unknown authors change from, (ahem) "specialist" arenas and come in to the main stream, they are at the back of the queue ... and if the big reviewing guns don't want to know then this leaves it up to the small army of general blog book reviewers, who are inundated with books to review; so you could be waiting a year or so before hearing anything about it.

          Mind you, there is always the possibility that it DESERVES to stay under the radar and you'll never hear of it ... but that is for the reviewers to decide, not me.

  2. Vociferous

    How does Adobe stay in business?

    Is there a worse software company on the planet?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: How does Adobe stay in business?

      They've managed to make their (overpriced, IMHO) software the defacto standard in multiple arenas. Unfortunately one of those arenas is DRMed e-books. In my experience, unless you're willing and knowledgeable enough to play fast and loose with the law or switch to a Kindle you'd best be ready to deal with Adobe. It's possible to buy your books and run them through Adobe's software exactly once in the process of stripping out the DRM, but that's a violation of DMCA here in the States. Better that than just finding a free download without DRM in the first place though.

      1. dan1980

        Re: How does Adobe stay in business?

        @AC

        There was a reason their software became the de facto standard for some workloads but that time has passed and they are now just adding and tweaking and rarely with anything groundbreaking.

        Many have commented that the move to 'Creative Cloud' and discontinuation of retail copies of CS is in part due to their realisation that there isn't much need for consumers to update their software by choice.

        Thankfully all my books are DRM free, though they do take up more shelf space that way.

    2. ecofeco Silver badge

      Re: How does Adobe stay in business?

      How? Because nobody has come up with any real alternative to their products.

      Sure, there are PS and Illustrator clones out there, so why aren't people using them?

      Also, as far as I know, there NO alternative to Dreamweaver or Coldfusion or Flash, although Flash is fading away now that enough people have the bandwidth for real video and sophisticated interactive can now be done with Java.

      That's how and yes, it sucks.

      1. Mage Silver badge
        Mushroom

        Re: How does Adobe stay in business?

        There is an alternate to Coldfusion

        No-one needs Dreamweaver, sorry. That's like claiming you need MS Publisher to produce a Magasine.

        Flash is Action Script and/or Video. There are alternate ways to do both.

        Very few people need photoshop or Illustrator. Some people that use those seriously would not be happy with the alternates.

        Most people using Adobe products don't need them. Also they are making it that you can't even buy, but only rent. Stuff that!

      2. BongoJoe
        Terminator

        Re: How does Adobe stay in business?

        Dreamweaver.

        You are right, there is no alternative if one wishes an over bloated application on one's desktop making overbloated web pages which are full of JaveScript just to publish "Hello, World"

        Perhaps there is no similar product to NightmareTangler because no-one else wishes to make something like that.

        The only things that I can't find an alternative of theirs is Lightroom and Elements. I have nothing else of theirs on my machine.

        1. Chris Fox

          Darktable: alternative to Lightroom

          "The only things that I can't find an alternative of theirs is Lightroom and Elements."

          Have you tried Darktable (www.darktable.org)? Not perfect, but not bad.

      3. Ed 16

        Re: How does Adobe stay in business?

        Railo is a fine alternative to ColdFusion, performed a full server migration on it a while back for a small web company migrating 5 of its sites over from Windows/SQL Server/ColdFusion to Linux/MySQL/Railo. Works faster, fewer hacking events (even after fully patching and updating IIS there were still attacks on it) and, of course, license / hosting fees all got reduced.

        Doesnt have all the features of ColdFusion (or didnt 6 months ago - not been on it apart from a few fixes here and there and some linux scheduling to backup / clear log files) but has most that an e-commerce / CMS site could need.

        1. Mage Silver badge

          Re:Railo vs ColdFusion

          Railo fixes some bugs in ColdFusion and seems to do all that older versions do. It seems to me a better product. It's not trivial to migrate a very large existing site using CF and Oracle to Railo and MySQL or MariaDB. But possible. If starting a new project, using Railo & MariaDB is probably some advantages over various PHP frameworks if you have a lot of Coldfusion experience.

          1. Ed 16

            Re: Re:Railo vs ColdFusion

            Agreed, took around 50 man hours for me to migrate all the sites as the original relied on stored procedures in SQL Server and some SQL Server quirks that dont work in MySQL. Not deployed a site on Railo / MariaDB as yet but definitely work a look at some point.

            This was outside my day job which doesnt touch CF / CFML at all now so not had an opportunity since.

      4. sisk

        Re: How does Adobe stay in business?

        How? Because nobody has come up with any real alternative to their products.

        Yes, they have.

        Sure, there are PS and Illustrator clones out there, so why aren't people using them?

        PS and Illustrator are the industry standards. THere's very little PS can do that Gimp can't, but anyone with a design degree in the last 20 years or so has had classes on PS. Ditto for Illustrator and Inkscape.

        Also, as far as I know, there NO alternative to Dreamweaver

        Kompozer

        or Coldfusion

        Railo, or BlueDragon.

        or Flash

        HTML5 + CSS3 or, failing that, it's still possible to use Java applets to do what it does (you know. the things we used before Flash?)

        although Flash is fading away now that enough people have the bandwidth for real video and sophisticated interactive can now be done with Java.

        You just triggered my pet peeve. Java != JavaScript. They're two totally unrelated languages which just happen to have a similar name. Java was made by Sun about the same time Netscape made the first version of JavaScript.

      5. Dylbot

        Re: How does Adobe stay in business?

        "there NO alternative to Dreamweaver"

        A great number of Notepad derivatives exist that are just leagues ahead of Dreamweaver (Sublime Text being my particular poison). Christ, even vanilla Notepad itself is a better tool productivity wise. If you need a WYSIWYG editor for web design you're probably in the wrong job.

      6. Swarthy
        Trollface

        Re: How does Adobe stay in business?

        "Also, as far as I know, there NO alternative to Dreamweaver or Coldfusion"

        I have found an absolutely wonderfull alternative to ColdFusion: smashing my fingers/toes with a dead-weight hammer. It is rather less painful, and the security holes are greatly reduced.

        Sucking on a hot exhaust pipe is a close second.

        1. sisk

          Re: How does Adobe stay in business?

          It is rather less painful

          Here I have to disagree with you. My server side scripting language of choice, when I'm given a choice, is PHP (for a number of reasons I'll not go into at the moment), but CFML is ludicrously easy to work with. Adobe's implementation of it is in some ways ahead of (Java POI integration) and in some ways behind (CFScript syntax, optimization) Railo, but both are relatively painless ways to get the job done.

      7. ecofeco Silver badge

        Re: How does Adobe stay in business?

        Dreamweaver doesn't cause bloat, developers and designers do. (Bob save us!)

        Texted based website building? This ain't the 1990s anymore, Old School Steve.

        Ralio? Good to hear. Never used but thanks for the heads up.

        Kompozer? Don't make me laugh. It's just Navigator Composer all over again.

        Confusing Java with Javascript? You're projecting. I did no such thing. I merely pointed out that Flash was once the defacto video compression tool of choice and no longer is and that STRAIGHT Java itself was and is taking the place of the interactive menus that were once created in Flash as well. Which oddly enough, you just repeated in a different way. Because I am well aware the Flash Action Script is a VERY close cousin to Javascript, (some even say a superset of ECMAScript ) but BOTH Java and Javascript are still used to good effect.

        Please take your hobby horse somewhere else. It's got pet peeves.

        1. Vic

          Re: How does Adobe stay in business?

          Dreamweaver doesn't cause bloat

          Maybe it's got better recently, then, because it used to nest tables a bazillion deep...

          Vic.

        2. sisk

          Re: How does Adobe stay in business?

          Texted based website building? This ain't the 1990s anymore, Old School Steve.

          You're obviously not a professional in the field if that's what you think. Yes, some website designers use Dreamweaver. But only about half of them, if that. The rest use a text editor.

          Kompozer? Don't make me laugh. It's just Navigator Composer all over again.

          Can't comment. I've never used it. The websites that put food on my table are written with Sublime Text. I only mentioned it as an alternative to Dreamweaver.

          I merely pointed out that Flash was once the defacto video compression tool of choice and no longer is and that STRAIGHT Java itself was and is taking the place of the interactive menus that were once created in Flash as well.

          No it's not. That would be CSS3, and sometimes JavaScript. Only an utter fool would use Java for something as simple as interactive controls in this day and age. Java is only used for complete web apps, and then only rarely. You can't count on the client device being able to run it anymore. These days HTML5+CSS3+JavaScript is the way to go. That's why I assumed you meant JavaScript.

    3. Ian Michael Gumby

      Re: How does Adobe stay in business?

      Wow.

      Here's the irony.

      Google collects everything you do online because 99.99999% of the websites you visit embed google analytics. (Hence NoScript.)

      Facebook? They are offering single sign on authentication for web sites. Care you guess how much information they are now tracking about you from outside of Facebook?

      So if you're going to knock Adobe, include Facebook, Google and others.

      Just putting it out there.

    4. HelpfulJohn

      Re: How does Adobe stay in business?

      Because she reads "Mills & Boons" while on the bus. Because M&B started selling electronic copies of their books. Because I bought her an e-book reader as a toy. Because M&B use Adobe DE as their DRM and there seems to be no way to initially buy their books without it.

      If you want the e-book convenience, you have to agree to the associated inconveniences.

      Sure, I could just have left her with the paper copies, which are actually *cheaper* than the e-book versions in most cases, but she would need to carry lots of those for long journeys. One reader can carry her entire collection. (It doesn't but it could. It never will because they won't *release* their entire collection as e-books, not even at today's full e-book prices but that's another rant entirely.)

      So I have ADE on her Mac and my PC and her reader machine just so I don't accidentally steal a copy of something and accidentally sell it on to a sister.

      Because I am presumed by M&B to be a thief.

      As are we all.

      That is how Adobe survive. Monopolies. Adobe just happened to get there first, or cheapest or least insecure or something. Once in, swapping to a different DRM service would be very difficult for M&B.

      1. Northumbrian

        Re: How does Adobe stay in business?

        As for M&B buy them from Amazon. You'll get prices at least as good and the books stay on the site a lot longer. Of course, you then have Kindle's DRM, but you can read that on any PC, laptop or Android tablet - and presumably even on iPads.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    I hate DRM....

    Have I said that I REALLY hate DRM? I mean, passionately?

    No feature of modern electronic commerce and communication has done more than DRM has done to ruin the customer experience. From legitimizing spying on customers, to balky authentication servers, to the lawsuits against downloading grandmothers, DRM has been a customer nightmare from the start.

    1. dan1980

      Re: I hate DRM....

      @Marketing Hack

      Amen. As I said in the previous story on this issues, DRM is anti-consumer, plain and simple.

      1. Ole Juul

        Re: I hate DRM....

        "DRM is anti-consumer, plain and simple."

        DRM is anti-people. It's a them vs. us attitude and that's just plain wrong.

        1. Jamie Jones Silver badge

          Re: I hate DRM....

          Th silly thing with DRM is that it simply does not stop copies being made available, as those who upload copies of things know how to circumvent it.

          Put it this way. If someone wants a copy of some film/song/book/program etc. without paying, their first port of call will be the internet.

          I don't think anyone thinks anymore: "I want to copy this, I'll buy it, copy it, and return it", or "I'll copy this off my mates", so they are never affected by DRM. The only people that are affected are the ones who have to put up with needless restrictions on stuff they've paid for.

          DRM is ultimately, therefore, bad for the content producers themselves, and they will do themselves a big favour by finally getting this.

          1. Vic

            Re: I hate DRM....

            Th silly thing with DRM is that it simply does not stop copies being made available

            That's because ultimately, all DRM is inherently broken.

            DRM requires the end-user to have in his posession the encrypted/obfuscated source material, the algorithm to decode it, and the keys to do so. It can only function by the fiction that one or more of these is somehow secret, when in fact they are all handed over.

            And so DRM will always be circumvented by those that can be bothered to do so, leaving it to be simply an impediment to legitimate users who don't.

            Vic.

  4. I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects
    Black Helicopters

    This is news?

    Try opening a Smithsonian archive in Linux. Anything the NSA doesn't want you to use will be weighted so you can't use it effectively.

    Which brings us to the uses that the NSA might make of their information. Suppose I wanted to get information from the University of Southampton about the use of wind tunnels to test an idea about diffusion and laminar flow.

    How long will a plodder like me be sending a scientific group information that could net them a million pounds?

    (I am talking about the Millennium Prize. And yes, OK, it's only dollars -but would they want a punk like me getting it?)

    Seriously though. We know that they have ways of hijacking things like the invention of the telephone and TV patents. What on earth would stop them doing something like that when they have so much better security?

    Not that I would begrudge anyone getting priority if they just got the word out to help people with the stolen ideas. But look at what their top class health agencies can do compared to a tin pot midget economy like Cuba, in the Ebola crisis for instance:

    http://aljazeera.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=38ffd892c93e55497901185c8&id=b2f16959c3&e=6b9e98c0f8

    The bastards are fucking useless as well as being despicable.

    (No offence to any yah'alldoodles but...)

    1. Ole Juul

      Re: This is news?

      Yes.

  5. Vector

    There is no way to opt out of this short of deleting the application.

    'nuff said!

    1. Tom 35

      Re: There is no way to opt out of this short of deleting the application.

      I tried it, then deleted it because it was steaming crap.

      Is it using DNS to find the server, or a hard coded IP. I wonder if it would stop working if you added it to the host file.

      1. Nigel 11

        Re: There is no way to opt out of this short of deleting the application.

        It ought to be straightforward to block any fixed IP address that it uses at your firewall. If it's using a dns name they could change the associated IP address, so you'd have to re-generate your firewall dynamically ... or spoof that DNS entry. It's all pretty easy on Linux. Windows, I don't know enough.

        Alternatively a hacker could doubtless find out where the Adobe binary feeds packets of data into the data-transmssion pipe and send packets of random crap instead. One instruction to corrupt the address of the buffer would do it. That appeals to me. With a bit of luck it might cause them grief at the other end. Illegally, someone might do us a favour by flooding them / DoSing them from a botnet.

        Of course they might fight back by making the communication bidirectional. But that would be giving the game away, and making it impossible to read your e-books offline or when Adobe's server goes down. So unlikely.

        Me, I'm sticking to paper books. I could always scan them in, if I wanted to read them electronically. But I find the dead tree interface is actually better.

        Edit

        One other thought. I do hope someone is setting lawyers onto them. What they are doing is almost certainly illegal under EU privacy laws and "safe haven" agreements. And the EU needs all the money it can get right now. And as was observed above, Adobe has a de facto monopoly.

    2. Youvegottobe Joking

      Re: There is no way to opt out of this short of deleting the application.

      Well I don't use their reader because its shite but surely adding adelogs.adobe.com to your hosts file would stop these information slurping wankers from finding out your personal data.

      1. edge_e
        Boffin

        Re: There is no way to opt out of this short of deleting the application.

        Am I missing something?

        Does the following in a hosts file not opt out?

        127.0.0.1 adelogs.adobe.com

    3. Refugee from Windows
      Pint

      Re: There is no way to opt out of this short of deleting the application.

      Does just setting adelogs.adobe.com in the hosts file to be at 127.0.0.1 work?

      Great minds think alike - or did I get back from the pub 2 minutes too late?

    4. Jonathan Richards 1
      Stop

      Re: There is no way to opt out of this short of deleting the application.

      What happens if one reads while disconnected from the network? After all, when reading a book, one doesn't *need* to be online [1]. Does the Adobe Squealer software store the page flips in a log and then transmit them when it can?

      [1] I blame broadband. When I did my Internetting with a 14.4k modem, I sure as hell didn't leave it running longer than I needed to!

  6. Tom 35

    More like...

    such information was needed to enforce publishers' anti-pirvacy measures

    1. VinceH
      Coat

      "anti-pirvacy"

      Pronounced 'anti-pervacy' I presume? In which case it's designed to stop people reading the likes of '50 Shades of Grey' ? Or just pilfered copies of same?

  7. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

    Rights restriction systems

    DRM (rights restriction systems) are the problem here. I for one will not purchase *or* use for free anything with DRM that I can't strip off. (Then I strip it off and use the rights restriction-free copy to watch or read or whatever.) Among the reasons:

    * Information grabs as seen in this article (and the one from a few weeks ago).

    * Inability to move the video, book, whatever from one system to another.

    * Almost every rights restriction software I've ever used skimps on features, useability, and usually speed, primarily because the software developers are not interested in these features, they are interested in making sure the rights restriction system works.

    * Related to the point above, you're restricted to using relatively poor software to view or listen to the DRM-restricted items.

    * Some of these regularly reauthorize use; companies (even big ones like Microsoft) have shut down DRM servers in the past and will continue to in the future. Oh, you mean you thought you'd be able to use that stuff you bought forever, not for a year or two or whatever? Tough.

    A few exceptions -- 1) I've gotten a few PDFs that didn't have DRM infections, but did have my name watermarked on the back. This doesn't restrict fair use at all, but would make anyone think at least twice before they stuck it up on the pirate bay or wherever since it can be trivially tracked back to the original purchaser. 2) Steam. I don't game enough to have Steam but it seems not heavy-handed at all, avoiding most objections other than the possibility of Steam going out of business.

    1. usbac Silver badge

      Re: Rights restriction systems

      Same here. I won't buy anything with DRM that I can't easily break. The way I look at it is that I'm not really buying something with DRM, I'm simply renting it for an undetermined amount of time (however long some corporate suit thinks I should use it).

      I have a lot of friends that seem to be okay with it. I really don't get it?

      I ask them "would you buy a car for $20K+, with the idea that the car manufacturer could come and take it back at any random time?" The answer is always no, yet they keep pumping money (thousands a year for some people) into all this DRM protected crap!

      The real problem is that no one seems to have a problem with it. Very soon there will not be any content that is not DRM protected. I'm buying used CDs as fast as I can.

      1. Richard 12 Silver badge
        Holmes

        Re: Rights restriction systems

        Eventually they will realise that DRM is an expensive white elephant.

        It is fundamentally impossible to prevent interception when Eve and Bob are the same entity.

        So all they are doing is pissing money up the wall while simultaneously pissing off their paying customers.

  8. SDoradus

    What other ebook reader? Will it read your already purchased e-book?

    "... people are upset that this kind of data is being collected in the first place – and will be looking for alternative ebook reader software that isn't spying on them."

    Fair enough. What ebook reader, then? And will it read already purchased material?

    1. Cipher

      Re: What other ebook reader? Will it read your already purchased e-book?

      I read epubs with Firefox's addon, epubreader. Works offline.

      There are several options for Windows - Stanza, Calibre come to mind...

      I use FBReader on my Linux machines.

    2. Not That Andrew

      Re: What other ebook reader? Will it read your already purchased e-book?

      As an ereader Calibre is pretty shite IMO (but it's more of an ebook management program), but there is a plugin for it called DeDRM that allows you to strip the DRM from just about anything.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    alternative ebook reader software

    to read the adobe digital edition (whatever the name is)? Is there any?

  10. channel extended

    Top Ten Bestsellers.

    The use of DRM is greatest on so called best sellers, Understand this is a "business" descision. If people stop buying ebook best sellers then companies will stop using it. There ARE publishers out there who will sell un-DRM books. Ranting and raving against some one will not stop this. However if you don't buy or use their products they will stop when they go out of business.

    Remember friends don't let friends do DRM!

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Top Ten Bestsellers.

      I never buy "bestsellers", am I abnormal?

      1. Smitty Werbenjaegermanjensen

        Re: Top Ten Bestsellers.

        Yes, but the thing about bestsellers is incidental.

        Not that being abnormal is always a bad thing.

  11. Tom 7

    Just another bug shirley

    (body)

  12. Sebastian A
    Facepalm

    Thanks Adobe, problem solved

    Because the fact that it was unencrypted was the problem, not that you're spying. Right?

    1. Bronek Kozicki
      Coat

      Re: Thanks Adobe, problem solved

      In honesty, they also solved another problem - now they are no longer spying on non-DRM books.

      And if you read DRM ones .... well, you have other problems as well, not just Adobe spying on you.

      Mine is the one with paper book in the pocket.

  13. chris lively

    It's not just Adobe

    This happens with a lot of companies.

    TV manufacturers send your details across the wire as well.

  14. alain williams Silver badge

    Computer Misuse or Data Protection ...

    Surely there must be some infringement under the Computer Misuse Act for it doing something that the owner does not want .... Oh, he agreed to it on installing it did he ? Does this thing record the number of people who did not read the agreement ?

    Looking at what is collected - it is personal information. This information is being taken out of the UK.

    However I agree with those above who say ''just say 'no' - don't use it''.

    1. Sebastian A

      Re: Computer Misuse or Data Protection ...

      Corporations are only people when it comes to rights, not responsibilities.

  15. Lostintranslation

    This fix comes from the makers of Adobe Flash Player. Nuff said.

  16. ecofeco Silver badge

    Thank god for the library and bookstores

    Outside of tech report, white papers or anything else I need to my day job and read the daily news, all my reading is done from real paper.

    E-readers? Why? It's redundant at best and as others have pointed out, subject to the the whims of the software makers.

  17. Christian Berger

    We must _finally_ outlaw DRM systems

    DRM systems are simply not compatible with the basic right of "integrity and secrecy of information processing devices" as derived from the German constitution by the German constitutional court some years ago.

    They provide no advantage to the reader, no advantage to the author and even just dubious advantages to the publisher. In fact they cause the market to cluster around few DRM providers or companies that can deal with them.

    The problem is that as long DRM systems are legal, publishers will insist on them being used, as they blindly believe the promises of the manufacturers.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    S'easy!

    I just can't read books on any screen.

    Give me paper or give me nowt!

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ah, so we need iptables rules for this new package too?

    So there should be a new rule to block all traffic to the aforementioned address when this application gets installed, or have they made it so obnoxious that it won't work when it cannot connect?

  20. oneeye

    Ya,privacy! What the heck is that,and if you find anything resembling it,well,don't hold back. It's enough to make you ill,and have migraine headaches. The real problem is people,and a severe lack of integrity. If you think all this reader stuff is bad,and you are right, take a look at what all your new shiny tv's are reporting about you. Ya,that's right,another spy organization,LG is a big offender,and I'm sure the rest are following suit. Time to move to the middle of nowhere,and go off the grid :-D

  21. frymaster

    Reminder: Kindle does this too

    I read the first chapter of a book on my phone, then load up the kindle browser-based reader and it's automatically at chapter two. They are up front about this, and it's a damned useful feature - but in terms of sending data back to the mothership it's functionally identical to what adobe are doing*

    * it may not do it exactly page-turn by page-turn

    1. Mage Silver badge

      Re: Reminder: Kindle does this too

      Physical Kindle with Radio turned off.

      But no it doesn't!

      The Sync feature across devices is publicised feature you can turn off. Amazon oddly are NOT doing the same as Adobe!

  22. Spasticus Autisticus

    All EULAs should require a tick in a box for every point in the agreement. The only button that gets you out without ticking each and every box is the disagree button. That would cut down the bollaux in many EULAs.

  23. alain williams Silver badge

    Re: EULAs

    Currently EULAs are one of several wild wests of the Internet. However: because they do not disadvantage corporations there is little action to control them and certainly no campaign contributions for doing so.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    There's no place like home

    hosts file

    127.0.0.1 adelogs.adobe.com

  25. Haro

    Evolution

    A long while back, you could only get library ebooks with DE1. That only worked on Win. and not my cheap Linux ereader. I found a simple Python script that extracted the key from the win program and put everything in plain epub. Obviously there was screaming from the publishers. They wanted more devices, so they went the way of online games, where they assure the publishers that there are living, breathing people using it the way they should. The next step is to monitor heart rate and breathing. :) I don't use any of this now, and read prodigiously, using other methods. :)

  26. Jamie Jones Silver badge

    Easy to circumvent if their only encryption is the https link...

    Just install a https decoding/recoding proxy like 'mitmproxy' which let you view/alter data streams (even https) on the fly...

  27. toffer99

    No, we're not paranoid. They really are ALL SPYING ON US.

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