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The Nation's Pulse
Who Is Reading Whom?
Another post-privacy portal into our lives.
From even before Gutenberg in the 15th century, reading has been a solitary and private business. For those non-techies among us who insist on reading real, physical books, the kind with paper pages and glue and ink, reading can still be one-on-one between reader and writer, with no one else in on the transaction.
But in a long and disturbing piece in the Wall Street Journal last week, Alexandra Alter reports that for the millions who now read on clunky and soulless e-gadgets (my words, not Alexandra’s) traveling under the names of Kindles and Nooks, and probably some other devices I’ve been fortunate enough not to hear about, reading is the work of a committee. And nothing is private. Big Publishing Brother is looking over your shoulder.
Perhaps this isn’t that big of a shock in the age of tracking cookies. But most of the folks who read with these devices are not aware that the “terms of agreement” they approved without reading give e-book publishers like Amazon, Apple, Google, et al. the right to track in detail how and what they read. (Who can demonstrate that anyone on the planet has ever read those online terms of agreement before, well, agreeing to them with a click?)
E-readers aren’t buying a book. For what they pay they’re just licensed to read the book or story in question. And with this license, the seller is licensed to track how often readers open a book, how long they spend with a book or story, how far they read, even what they underline and what notes they make (in the clunky way you have to do these things with e-readers).
You can see from the publishers’ points of view how they might want this information — and how they might fool themselves that this will enable them to increase their sales by publishing better books. The publishing biz is going through a rough patch just now. So publishers are subjecting the data they get from unknowing readers to something they call “deep analytics,” another charmless term let loose on an unsuspecting world by the marketing majors, who, at the Final Accounting, will have a lot to answer for.
This is pretty high stakes stuff, or at least publishers consider it so. E-books are no longer just a sliver of the publishing business. I’ve seen all manner of stats on this subject, most of which indicate there are more e-books being read now than what I will refer to until I’m shovel ready as real books. Alter cites Forrester Research that there are 40 million e-readers and 65 million tablets in use in the U.S. She quotes the Association of American Publishers that in the first quarter of 2012, e-books outsold real books $282 million to $230 million.
With real books publishers have to rely on sales figures and reviews. With e-books they now have all kind of snoopy stuff they can analyze, much in the way ancient shamans analyzed sheep entrails, and use what they think they’ve learned to shape their products.
Some publishers even suggest they will use data on when readers’ attention begins to flag to determine if story lines need to be changed, or even if a novel is too long. I’m sure this will be a hit with writers, many of whom already have problematic relationships with their editors and their publishers’ marketing department. Amuse yourself by speculating on how receptive Leo Tolstoy might have been to a request to put out a shorter version of War and Peace because a secretary in the motor pool thought it was too long.
Not every writer is hostile to creative guidance from readers. Scott Turow, a writer of long and popular legal thrillers (Presumed Innocent, Burden of Proof, et al.) and president of something called the Authors Guild, told Alter, “If you can find out that a book is too long and you’ve got to be more rigorous in cutting, personally I’d love to get the information.”
Well, you’re in luck Scott. You don’t even need your publishers to spy on their customers to get this info. I read your first two novels, and they were too long. John le Carré and Stephen King, you also natter on way too long.
It’s really hard to work up much moral indignation about this. Cyber-technology has long since made personal privacy just a fond memory. But many readers, when they think of the detailed information about their activities that are open through their two-way Kindles and Nooks, may consider this a bridge too far. It’s one thing for a woman to agree to be part of a focus group, or to keep a diary of her television viewing. It’s another to have a gnome at some publishing house counting the tears that hit her Kindle as she reads a romance. You don’t have to have an over-active sense of propriety to recognize that there’s just something wrong with this.
I don’t like to make a moral case out of what is, after all, a matter of preference. I’ve no patience with the various “improvements” to the book that the techies have thrust upon us. But I know that various of my reading friends, sound in other ways, have bought these devices, and, I suppose, use them. I’d never try to talk them out of this “new and improved” approach. But I could more easily imagine an armadillo wearing a tuxedo than imagine myself reading a novel on one of these abominations.
I like books, the real kind, in all their aspects and have a library of a couple of thousand well-thumbed volumes. Books furnish my part of the house as much as the chairs and tables. A friend who is both a lawyer and a successful mystery writer, by way of supporting her enchantment with e-reading and giving evidence why I should consider going down the technical road, informed me that her Kindle can hold hundreds of books. I told her this was one of the most depressing things I’d ever heard.
Millions now are comfortable with their e-readers of various sorts, and have sent their physical books and book shelves to the encore store for the likes of me to pick over. I certainly won’t lecture them on their choice. But if any of these folks feel like there is someone looking over their shoulder as they read, it’s not just their imagination. And it’s not much of a stretch to foresee a day when the reading habits of citizens are in the hands of more than just publishers, perhaps with a less benign intention than selling books.
About the Author
Larry Thornberry is a writer in Tampa.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (29) | Leave a comment
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Robert Pinkerton| 7.3.12 @ 6:27AM
Thank you, Mr. Thornberry, for giving me still another reason for avoiding this superfluous novelty. I decline to buy e-"books(?)" so-called, because I decline to descend deeper into habituation to electronics. Sorry, but I am sure at least one set of anti-American low-lifes are studying ways of generating electromagnetic pulse, which kills consumer electronics dead.
Brookschwarzenegro | 7.3.12 @ 2:59PM
I'm nostalgic as well- but it wont do any of us any good. I live in the Midwest and the talk revolves around
"Aunt Gertie's rhubarb pie and how Gramps had an operation on his tibia..."
23 Skidoo.
Kitty | 7.3.12 @ 7:00AM
I have several friends who rage about all the Big Brother-type spying. And yet these same people gush about their smart phones and e-readers and/or tablets.
On the other hand, none of us can avoid Big Bro. This story about the government's “Total Information Awareness” project was in the NY Post last week:
The National Security Agency is in the process of constructing a $2 billion data processing and spy center in remote Bluffdale, Utah, according to a recent report.
When completed next year, the one-million-square-foot facility will be used to intercept, store and analyze everything from private e-mails and cellphone calls to Web searches and parking tickets.
http://www.nypost.com/p/entert.....z1zYWPue3r
Me, I have a Kindle -- got one for Christmas in 2010 -- but I prefer real books, too.
Harry the Horrible| 7.3.12 @ 9:13AM
Sorry, I ran out of room for books. The creaking shelves loaded with books became a threat to the kids.
Now I can keep a 20 year backlog on a single kindle.
Also, you can download actual mobi files from various sites that are not "licenses" but the actual books. You can back 'em up and Amazon never has to know...
Dai Alanye | 7.3.12 @ 9:33AM
I too long for the days when one could unroll a scroll and revel not merely in the words but the smell of ink and crinkle of papyrus. Of course, there's much to say for illuminated vellum as well.
First, though, let's be serious and acknowledge that being able to fit several books into a device one can carry in a pocket is a great leap forward.
Second, as far as the fear of being manipulated by publishers, let's recognize that publishing houses are being pushed to the margins by giant retailers on the one hand and self-publishing authors on the other. If present trends continue, one must question the value of buying stock in any book-publishing firm.
Here's one example. Jack Vance, a prolific and unique writer of fantasy, science fiction and mysteries is having his works republished by a start-up called Spatterlight Press. The ebooks can be bought direct or via many retailers, and no big-time publisher has a thing to do with them. This is increasingly how the industry is trending.
In the meantime, we need to worry about the retailers (Amazon, B&B, Google, etc) who assiduously track their customers in increasingly sneaky ways, not Random House and Macmillan.
PCC| 7.3.12 @ 9:35AM
"You have no privacy. Get over it."
Scott McNealy
CEO
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Circa 2003
I'm afraid he was right - on both counts.
Hardcard| 7.3.12 @ 9:36AM
CONTROL!!! We are doomed!!!! Pray !!!
RJ| 7.3.12 @ 10:16AM
More and more, we are living in a "1984" world. Freedom and privacy has been eroding before an increasingly powerful and dictatorial state. So many of the young don't seem to care. I can relate to why Obi Wan Kenobi retired to a cave on a remote planet when the beloved Republic which he served died and was replaced by the Empire.
JD| 7.3.12 @ 7:51PM
Shades of John Galt, eh?
Petronius| 7.3.12 @ 10:52AM
There are authors who are keeping some of their material off paper. One of the finest writers in the world, Diana Gabaldon, is doing an e-zine. So is Eric Flint. You have to have the device or a friend who will let you read theirs.
The staff of this magazine should be aware that Google and others are now censoring content with the intent of denying access to material and goods they don't want us to have. I doubt they will gut this blog, as the trid reading this at the NSA would be out of a job, and purp would have to take his idiotic abuse else where.
The U N conference on international arms control is this month. Google has announced that it is purging all search results for anything related to firearms and weapons. This begs the question. What book would you like to buy as a download that e-tailers won't sell to you? Most would be restricted under the current Blue Sky clause of the GAT treaty, and publishing rights arcana. But I can see the day when all electronic communication devices will be licensed and Taxed like our vehicles. We're already monitored by big Sis.
Cobalt| 7.3.12 @ 11:28AM
In the future, e-books can be quickly edited in the name of political correctness, etc.
The content of history books, biographies, etc. can be "corrected" to make sure school children, and other people are "educated" with the right party line.
Kitty | 7.3.12 @ 11:37AM
Exactly, just like in "1984."
Cobalt| 7.3.12 @ 12:05PM
Winston Smith finally accepted the fact that "2 + 2 = 5."
Bob Grant| 7.3.12 @ 9:30PM
Much of our political landscape and culture is right out of 1984, including the daily two minutes hate of George W Bush.
75497| 7.4.12 @ 10:48AM
and that "re-historization" will occur slowly so as not to be realized... and thus the frog boils.
Who Knows?| 7.3.12 @ 12:20PM
Encore books---I like it!
One of my most enjoyable hobbies is perusing local free book shelves, and plucking those gems that I find enthralling---like, H.G. Wells’ “The Outline of History”, from 1922. What fun to freely leaf through what were cutting edge thoughts, and laugh about how much has been found to be wrong.
e-books or regular books?
Who cares?
The true sadness of our limited time span as humans was captured in a classic Twilight Zone episode. The protagonist loved to read. A nuclear attack destroyed most things, but he survived as well as the library---but, his coke bottle glasses were ruined!
For me, much the same thing happened, and my awareness of it certainly hurt---so many books in the library, so little time to even glimpse at them! We are all reduced to Jeopardy players, full of (or not!) knowledge of the NAMES of books, without ever have read them.
Ultimately, one who is wise realizes life is not about reading words. Doing this is but a necessary condition to be educated, but is definitely NOT sufficient for a completely successful life in human form.
One must learn to have free attention, to observe, understand, and transcend---all of the arising.
O.U.T. Get OUT of life!
C. Vernon Crisler | 7.3.12 @ 12:22PM
I just bought a Kindle last week, and I've downloaded about a hundred books (some of them being complete collections of Aristotle, Plato, etc.)
The reason for all this downloading? Because the books are cheap as hell and there's no shipping costs. So what if Amazon is tracking usage? It's because they are using the data to find out which books we like so they can advertise them on our Amazon pages.
As Friedman said, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. The only way Amazon can sell books that cheap (some of them actually zero in price, many others only 99 cents) is to advertise and collect marketing data. I can live with that.
Kindle (and Nook) are not a susbstitute for physical books. Some books have pictures, paintings, or charts in them that just don't have the same impact on a Kindle or even on one's laptop. I can't see much of a future for Kindle in trying to duplicate today's glossy textbooks.
Still, it's nice to know that wherever you are, you can read all the works of Aristotle, Plato, Augustine, or even Hegel, and Mark Twain, too -- plus you can brush up on Algebra and Trig and Calculus on the bus, or on the plain, or at boring meetings.
Remember, Amazon is a private business, not a government entity. If you don't like what they do, don't buy their product. It's as simple as that.
C. Vernon Crisler | 7.3.12 @ 12:46PM
plane; need to download spell checker, too.
75497| 7.4.12 @ 10:49AM
but the plain is a nice place to read!
J.C.Eaton| 7.3.12 @ 12:28PM
I too, was given a Kindle. Haven't used it. Instead, I collect real books. Read them too. It strikes me that a person's books are like the footprints of his life. They tell his kids where he's been and where he was going. How do you track a blank little screen?
JmsA| 7.4.12 @ 11:07AM
Hear. Hear.
tdiinva| 7.3.12 @ 12:39PM
Unlike Mr. Thrornberry I don't live in a palace in Europe so I must resort to using modern technology to continue to expand my library. I am out of space for "real" books as he put it. E-readers, like all technology, has a light and a dark side. I can live with B&N checking to see what I am reading. It's a small price to pain to continually expand my library.
One more thing, you might not be aware of this but everytime you order a book online the seller tracks you. If you join the B&N reader club, everything you buy will tracked. Having someone collect marketing information on you does not mean that big brother is on the way.
Jane Chingo| 7.3.12 @ 4:34PM
Um, hello? Bloggers always get this wrong about both books and music. The reality is, even those who buy paper books only get a license. Yes, first sale allows you to resell the physical implementation of the book, but you never own the book. You can't make photocopies. You can't publish your own edition. You can't sell any publishing rights.
JD| 7.3.12 @ 7:54PM
Government tracking is dangerous, because government has lots of power already, and we don't need it to grow any more dangerous.
On the private side, there's spying of the illegal sort, but then there's also plain old remembering what customers want.
If the server at your favorite restaurant recalls your "usual" and brings it to you, just the way you want it, whenever you arrive, you appreciate him and tip him extra. Why complain when your electronic merchant does the same?
Appleby| 7.4.12 @ 7:07AM
This is precisely why I will not use e-Books now or ever. This, and the fact that Big Brother can reach in and change the books to suit whatever politically correct hypothesis the Marching Mommies currently approve. Since the modern generations have the attention span of a two-year-old, most of them will never notice this. I would, and I'm not going to fall for it. (I can also see Big Nanny reaching in and lowering the level of vocabulary to Grade 3, or changing it to that blather the Texting Generation will understand.)
Petronius| 7.4.12 @ 11:54AM
That happens at college level. A former friend, (drank the Malthusian koolade); told me of sitting in (English) class and being told point blank that "Ebonics is a legitimate language." He almost got kicked out of UMSL for asking, "Alright; how do I major in it?" The swarthy feminista prof was not amused. Nobody gets bad marks anymore for using phrases like, "had already did that."
Appleby| 7.4.12 @ 4:02PM
I have a set of Doctor Doolittle books from the 1950s, relics of a childhood spent reading. A comparison with the newer editions shows that Prince Bumpo has been excised from at least two of the books. There is a self-serving afterword in the modern books that totally misses the entire satirical purpose of Prince Bumpo, but earnestly tosses him overboard because Nanny thinks he's a racist caricature. In point of fact, should you not be familiar with His Highness, Pince Bumpo is a caricature of the typical country boy sent to school at Oxford by a wealthy bumpkin father, and we kiddies never thought of what colour he was when we were reading the stories -- we laughed because he wore morning dress but didn't wear shoes!
That's what I object to in a world filled with Nannies who can reach inside my books and eviscerate them at will.
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Vasu Murti | 7.5.12 @ 1:45PM
In his 1992 book, Visions of Liberty, former Executive Director of the ACLU, Ira Glasser writes:
"The use of wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping emerged during the Prohibition era. Roy Olmstead was a suspected bootlegger whom the government wished to search. It placed taps in the basement of his office building and on wires in the streets near his home. No physical entry into his office or home took place. Olmstead was convicted entirely on the basis of evidence from the wiretaps.
"In his appeal to the Supreme Court, Olmstead argued that the taps were a search conducted without a warrant and without probable cause, and that the evidence seized against him should have been excluded because it was illegally gathered. He also argued that his Fifth Amendment right not to be a witness against himself was violated.
"By a 5-4 vote, the Court rejected his arguments and upheld the government's power to wiretap without limit and without any Fourth Amendment restrictions, on the grounds that no actual physical intrusion had taken place.
"Olmstead's Fifth Amendment claim was also dismissed on the grounds that he had not been compelled to talk on the telephone, but had done so voluntarily.
"Thus the Court upheld the government's power to do by trickery and surreptitious means what it was not permitted to do honestly and openly...
"The other major use of electronic eavesdropping has been to punish political dissent..."