W H O ' S R E A D I N G O V E R Y O U R S H O U L D E R ?  

Privacy in the Age of the E-Reader

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Reading is a solitary and private act 

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"...an intimate exchange between the reader and the

words on the page" [1]

“To escapeinto a book and know that no one is

watching” [2]

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E-READERS NOW PROVIDE READERS WITH A LIBRARY OF BOOKS AT THE TOUCH

OF A FINGER [3]

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E-Readers

80%

20%

E-BOOKS MAKE UP BETWEEN 15 AND 20

PERCENT OF ALL TRADE BOOK SALES [4]

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e-Book Sales

WITH E-READER USE ON THE RISE, IS READING

STILL THE PRIVATE ACT IT ONCE WAS? 

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E-readers “gather an astonishingly detailed portrait of our book-reading habits: what we buy, what we browse, the amount of time we spend on a page

and even the annotations we make in an ebook” [5]

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“IF WE CAN HELP AUTHORS CREATE EVEN BETTER BOOKS

THAN THEY CREATE TODAY, IT'S A WIN FOR EVERYBODY.”   [ 1]

J IM HILT  V ICE PRESIDENT OF E-BOOKS,

BARNES & NOBEL

If data collection is helping build better books,

What's the concern?

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"The e-Book means giving up more privacy than browsing through a physical

bookstore or library, or reading a paper book in your own home" [6]

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With every finger swipe and page turn, your e-reader analyzes your actions, leaving an

electronic trail behind you [5]

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The electronic trail left by e-book users is potentially profitable for publishers, and can

be used as government surveillance [5]

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In 2008, a student at Nottingham University downloaded the al-

Quaida training manual from a US government website while

researching counterterrorism for his PhD studies

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He was detained for 7 days and subjected to a

police investigation [5] 

This surveillence  "erodes the privacy that is necessary to

enjoy our freedoms" [5]

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HOW WILL E-READER DATA COLLECTION AFFECT AUTHORS? 

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The information collected on consumer e-book reading habits is being shared with publishers and

editors [2]

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The e-Reader data- driven approach

could "hinder the kinds of creative risks

that produce great literature" [1]

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"Will mystery writers be scolded (and perhaps dropped from their publishers’ lists) because a third of their fans didn’t

even stick around long to enough to learn who committed the murder?" [1]

 "Will authors be urged to write the sorts of books that the

highest percentage of readers read to the end?" [1]

What is currently in place to protect e- reader privacy?

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The California Reader Privacy Act:  "Mirrors the strong privacy and free

speech standards that are already in place and extends them to digital books and

electronic reading records" [7]

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FOR THE F IRST T IME, THE VULNERABIL ITY OF READERS IN THE

DIGITAL AGE WOULD BE RECOGNISED IN STATUTE

[5 ]

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How will the data- driven approach

affect the age of the  e-reader?

Only time will tell. 

However, steps must

be taken to ensure that privacy as a

fundamental freedom is  protected. 

References 1- Alter, A. (2017). Your E-Book Is Reading You. WSJ. Retrieved 24 February 2017, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304870304577490950051438304

2- Prose, F. (2017). They’re Watching You Read. The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 24

February 2017, from http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2015/01/13/reading-whos-watching/

3- Twyla, M., Johnson, K.A., & Rossi-Williams, D. (2012). E-Readers: Powering Up for Engagement. Educational Leadership. Retrieved 24 February 2017, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/jun12/vol69/num09/E- Readers@_Powering_Up_for_Engagement.aspx

4- Jabr, F. (2017). The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens. Scientific American. Retrieved 24 February 2017, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/reading-paper-screens/ 5- Glanville, J. (2017). Readers' privacy is under threat in the digital age. the Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/aug/31/readers-privacy-under-threat 6- Flood, A. (2017). E-readers reading your reading: A serious invasion of privacy?. the Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2012/dec/05/ereaders-reading-privacy

7- Reader Privacy Act of 2011. (2017). Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved 4 February 2017, from https://www.eff.org/cases/sb-602-californias-reader-privacy-act-2011