Who's Snooping Around Bookstores?

Click the link below for an article in the most recent newsletter from Book Passage, an independent bookstore in Corte Madera. It discusses the ethics of people who go to bookstores, use an Amazon app to compare prices, then go home and order the book online, for which they receive a $5 additional discount. But the most important information is about data mined from purchased e-books. Not that anyone I know is buying subversive or seditious books, but what bothers me is that info is gleaned by Apple, Amazon, and others, which share this info so you can be targeted. I know it is everywhere on the Internet and is unavoidable, but tracking one's reading habits seems more Big Brotherish than noting what toaster you buy. Even though I am a printed-book person, I think e-books have their virtues, but there needs to be more regulation of data collection and distribution.

JANET TAYLOR

CLICK FOR THE ARTICLE

Comments

[Larry Rosenstein]

The first half of the article got one thing wrong. The $5 discount was for one day only and books were not included. (See http://bit.ly/tpZhgK for more.)

The second half raises good issues. I don't think e-book sellers routinely share customer purchases with other companies, but as the article says, large companies are more likely to divulge customer information if faced with a lawsuit, than independent booksellers.

Another issue with e-books is that you don't really own them. (The article alludes to this at the end.) If you buy a physical book, you can easily sell or give it away. The same is not always true of e-books. Some of the larger publishers even restrict e-book purchases by public libraries, as described here: http://nyti.ms/vstRox