White and Black Statistics
Reviewed by OFW editor: Carlos J Cortes
Published: October 16, 2012
Last July, I received an interesting e-mail from a colleague about the work of programmers busy at developing software for e-readers. I found the concept matter intriguing and not a little scary.
Eons ago, in another re-incarnation, I hanged about with urban tribes in different European and American cities. Besides striking friendships of the kind that one nurtures to the grave, I was introduced to a shady community of the hackers one seldom hears about in the press or the Internet; people who roam networks and exchanges looking for unusual traffic flow and sophisticated script. These guys and gals work almost exclusively for software corporations and Government departments and don’t talk about their work even when stoned. But their knowledge of state-of-the-art code and the possibilities of cross-linking databases is awe inspiring, and they don’t mind discussing these aspects of the art.
Am I boring you? I’ll get to the point. I reached out to my strange friends to ask a few questions and was shocked at their banter. Apparently, the matter of my concern was very old news.
Many of you own, or have used an e-reader. Though I don’t have one, I’ve used those of my acquaintances and have a fair idea of their workings. An e-reader is a device, like an oversize cell phone, with a screen offering the pages of books housed in its memory.
People can purchase digital copies of books and download the files directly into their set or transfer book files from their computer.
The book files are structured in such a way that each time the user presses a tab or flicks a finger, a new page comes up. It follows that the file is arranged in numbered pages and that the machine keeps track of the pages read, so the user can switch off the device and return later to where he left his reading.
Now I’m sure you’re bored stiff because the preceding lines are common knowledge, just like the fact that every electronic device has an internal clock. A very precise clock. In addition, e-readers have memory storage and WIFI capability to receive wireless data (that’s how most people download the book files in the first place). It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that most things able to receive packets of data are equally capable of sending them, often without the user’s notice.
There’s a race going on to develop software packets, these things referred as “apps” by the trendy, to collect the data from the page-flicking actions of users, suitably labeled with the date and time of the “very precise clock.” This is what I found intriguing and not a little scary.
It means that someone (your guess is as good as mine as to the identity of “someone”) will have access to a file listing:
1. The title of the book.
2. The moment it was downloaded.
3. The time lapsed between download and read.
4. How long it took to read the first and subsequent pages.
5. How many pages were read (and at what speed each) at one session.
6. The time of day and the device’s geographical location when each page was read.
7. Backtracking.
8. Highlights or notes.
9. Any skipped pages.
10. The moment and location within the text when the reader gave up and discarded or filed the unfinished book.
The listed data is innocent enough, and can be used to offer superb feedback and services to readers. Problem is others can use the same information to recreate 1984 or Brave New World.
“White” and “black” are terms commonly used to denote lawful and unlawful uses of computer technology, just in case someone has different ideas about usage.
Each item on the list has a white use and a possible black one:
1. The title of the book.
White: You could be apprised of similar titles by publishers or sellers.
Black: Be careful about what you read; it paints a picture of who you are.
2. The moment it was downloaded.
White: Publishers and vendors can gauge the success of a book after publication
Black: It could be dicey to deny you checked a locksmith manual just before Grandma’s stash disappeared.
3. The time lapse between download and read.
White: Publishers and vendors can gauge reader’s urge to get on with it.
Black: Your eagerness to read a title, your comments, opinions, and reviews would be tarnished if you’ve not opened the book.
4. How long it took to read the first and subsequent pages.
White: Publishers can measure story flow, tension, and reading ease.
Black: Others can analyze your reading abilities and the juicy bits you re-read seven times.
5. How many pages were read (and at what speed each) at one session.
White: Publishers can assess story flow, chapter and book length, and the overall structure.
Black: Others can detect that you read more attentively the chapters where certain practices were detailed.
6. The time of day and the device’s geographical location when each page was read.
White: Publishers and vendors can use the statistics to prevent peak time delays and adjust content.
Black: Were you supposed to be there?
7. Backtracking.
White: Publishers can assess deficiencies in plot or unclear passages.
Black: Why did you go back to that formula eleven times?
8. Highlights or notes.
White: Publishers can discover misprints, errors or missed issues that could be used in promotional activities.
Black: You loved what?
9. Any skipped pages.
White: Publishers and writers can assess where the storyline flags.
Black: The content of the skipped pages could yield much information about your moral, religious or political convictions.
10. The moment and location within the text when the reader gave up and discarded or filed the unfinished book.
White: Publishers and writers could assess where a book flopped.
Black: Same as the previous one; depending on the subject matter, thrashing a book could yield much information about your moral, religious, or political convictions.
The immediate reaction of most citizens when reading about the dangers of information is to shrug; after all, the law protects people against intrusion in their privacy. They will contend that data is gathered all the time for bona fide statistics. This is true, but the point to ponder is: If something can be used for a purpose, it will. And matters little if the purpose is good, bad, legal or illegal. A stone can be used to build works of art, roads, and buildings, but if it can be used to weigh a man’s feet before throwing him overboard, sooner or later it will.
To know what, how and when we read is the kind of information that most of us wouldn’t like to share with unknown entities, white or black.
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