NPR takes a look at the question of keeping data private in an increasingly tech-driven world and focuses on electronic book readers, such as Nooks or Kindles, which can gather reading and location information.

Most e-readers, like Amazon’s Kindle, have an antenna that lets users instantly download new books. But the technology also makes it possible for the device to transmit information back to the manufacturer. ”They know how fast you read because you have to click to turn the page,” says Cindy Cohn, legal director at the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation. “It knows if you skip to the end to read how it turns out.” [...]

And it’s not just what pages you read; it may also monitor where you read them. Kindles, iPads and other e-readers have geo-location abilities; using GPS or data from Wi-Fi and cell phone towers, it wouldn’t be difficult for the devices to track their own locations in the physical world. Read more »

The Washington Post has a story about Web sites that we’ve discussed before, Blippy and Swipely, which let people broadcast online what they buy with credit cards, debit cards or through accounts with retailers such as Amazon. Blippy recently faced criticism from privacy advocates and others when it was forced to fix a technical problem that exposed some users’ personal financial data on Google. The Post reports:

The founders of [Blippy] and rival site Swipely say the purpose is to reveal the stories behind America’s stuff and explore how much our purchases reflect our personalities. Are we Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts, Target or Wal-Mart, Payless or Prada? [...] Read more »

At MSNBC’s Red Tape Chronicles, Bob Sullivan reports that online store Amazon has a feature in its Kindle e-reader devices that is raising privacy questions:

Readers of old-fashioned dead-tree books often like to underline or highlight passages they find particularly meaningful, or scribble notes for later reference. All e-book readers offer an electronic equivalent of such note-taking. But Kindle users who highlight passages will now have a record of those highlights sent back to Amazon servers, where they will be compiled and sorted to help produce a new feature called “Popular Highlights.” [...]

Amazon does not reveal preferences of individual users. Only passages highlighted by three or more users are included.

Still, Larry Ponemon, who runs privacy consulting firm The Ponemon Institute, said some users will bristle at the notion that Amazon can track which passages they highlight while reading. The feature “definitely steps over the line,” he said.

One of the biggest problems is that “Popular Highlights” is turned on by default — so customers have to 1) learn that their data is being sent back to Amazon and 2) figure out how to opt-out. How do users opt out? By disabling a feature on the Kindle e-reader that automatically backs up users’ notes and highlights. And Amazon doesn’t seem to be publicizing the “Popular Highlights” feature. Read more »

The ACLU of Northern California has released an issue paper, “Digital Books: A New Chapter for Reader Privacy.” This is the second in a series of issue papers discussing the implications for individuals of new technology trends. (The first is: “Cloud Computing: Storm Warning for Privacy?”) From “Digital Books”:

[A]s books move into digital form, new reader privacy issues are emerging. In stark contrast to libraries that retain as little information about readers as possible, digital book services are capturing detailed information about readers including who they are, what books they browse and read, how long a given page is viewed, and even the notes written in the “margins.” Without strong privacy protections, all of this browsing and reading history can be collected and analyzed and could end up in the hands of the government or third parties without the reader’s knowledge or consent. Retaining and strengthening reader privacy in the digital age requires a thorough examination of the potential privacy and free speech implications of digital book services and the establishment of laws and policies that properly protect readers. [...] Read more »

In many online transactions, the buyers aren’t charged state sales tax. In some states, “the burden is on shoppers to track what they buy online, calculate the sales tax owed and then pay it. In reality, few consumers fess up — many do not even know such a requirement exists,” the Washington Post reports. A 2009 report from the University of Tennessee estimated that, “the national state and local sales tax loss on these transactions is expected to grow from $8.6 billion in 2010 [...] to $11.4 billion in 2012.”

Now, the states are looking into how they can gather this tax revenue. “About a dozen, including Maryland and Virginia, this year have considered legislation that would force online retailers to collect the tax, though only a handful of bills have passed. Some states have even taken the unusual step of asking sites such as Amazon to provide lists of what residents have bought and how much they’ve spent, sparking concerns over consumer privacy,” the Post reports.

There is federal privacy protection for some items sold by Amazon. The Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 (18 U.S.C. § 2710) prevents the “wrongful disclosure of video tape rental or sale records” of “prerecorded video cassette tapes or similar audio visual materials,” which includes DVDs. Read more »

CNet reports on a lawsuit by Amazon against North Carolina concerning the privacy of the online retailer’s customer data:

North Carolina’s tax collectors said Wednesday that they never demanded personal information such as book titles from Amazon.com, which filed a federal lawsuit against the state this week seeking to keep that information confidential.

“Amazon’s complaint is misleading in alleging the department has required detailed information revealing personal consumer preferences, such as book titles,” North Carolina Secretary of Revenue, Kenneth Lay, said in a statement.

But CNET has obtained correspondence from the Department of Revenue that calls North Carolina’s claim into question.

In a letter to Amazon dated December 1, 2009, Romey McCoy, the Department of Revenue’s audit manager, asked for “all information” relating to nearly 50 million purchases that customers in that state had made between 2003 and 2010. McCoy’s letter did not exempt the titles of books or Blu-Ray movies, and did not address the privacy implications of the request.
Amazon subsequently turned over limited, anonymous information: the amount of the purchase, the seller, and the postal code it was sent to. Read more »