Adobe Now Collects Less Data Through eBook Reader

Adobe Now Collectes Less Data Through eBook Reader

After a privacy controversy last month, Adobe Systems is reported to be collecting less data now which is a good news to all eBook Readers.

Last month Adobe was criticized when it was found that Digital Edition versions 4.0.1 was collecting metadata from users' device though it did not have DRM(Digital Rights Management). Those data were sent to Adobe servers in plain text, without being encrypted.The metadata included information about previous session such as titles of books, pages read, time spent reading and more.

Critics as well as EFF(Electronic Frontier Foundation) said that this type of practice from Adobe could put users' privacy in question.An intruder, on the same public Wi-Fi network, could easily intercepted those unencrypted user data.

Adobe said on Oct. 23 it fixed the issues in 4.0.1, saying it would not collect data on ebooks without DRM and encrypt data that is transmitted back to the company.

EFF staff, Cooper Quintin, in a statement said the same thing. they said,

only time we saw data going back to an Adobe server was when an ebook with DRM was opened for the first time. This data is most likely being sent back for DRM verification purposes, and it is being sent over HTTPS.

EFF tool help of two tool Wireshark and Fiddler  to carry on their tests and to 'reproduce the results of the experiments run by Digital Reader.'

 EFF now confirms that if a eBook has DRM, Adobe may record how long a person reads it or the percentage of the content that is read.

Other data are also being collected, such as the IP address of the device which is downloading a book, a unique ID assigned to the specific applications being used at the time and a unique ID for the device, according to Adobe.