Original Post

Amazon is getting regular logs / sysinfos from all Kindle devices. This is done by the device it self. It collects information about your doings and syslogs and then from time to time it will send a compressed file with all this collected data to Amazon. I came across this by reading this article by ebs. The post also shows you what for example the Kindle device sends to Amazon. It tracks what you read, at which position you are in the book and where you are physically - just to name a few samples.

 

090719:144532 cvm[26415]: I BookletManager:SwitchingBooklets:from=Home,to=Bookworm:
090719:144532 cvm[26415]: I Reader:BOOK INFO:title=Kindle DX User's Guide,authors=Amazon.com,ASIN=B0026P3LT
E,content type=ebook,publisher=Amazon.com,publication date=4/25/2008,sorted title=Kindle DX User's Guide,display a
uthors=Amazon.com,length=MobiPosition_ 211399,last access=1980-01-01 00.00.00 +0000,last read position=MobiPositi
on_ 12977,isEncrypted=false,isSample=false,isNew=false,path=/mnt/us/documents/Kindle_Users_Guide.azw,isTTSMetda
taPresent=false,isTTSMetadataAllowed=true:
090719:144534 cvm[26415]: I ReaderGUI:SWITCH VIEW:name=com.amazon.ebook.booklet.reader.gui.lf:

...

090719:161519 wand[1661]: I e725:diag: t=4a644ff6,SID=4183,NID=87,
Base ID=744,Network Svc Type=EVDO,Bars=5,
Latitude=37.321441,Longitude=-122.030612,
RSSI dBm=-125,Active Set EC IO dBm=-31.500000,Active Set PN Offsets=264,
HDR Latitude=37.334167,HDR Longitude=-122.031113,
EVDO RSSI dBm=-65,ASET Pilot Energy=-0.53,
HDR Active Set PN Offsets=264,DRC=2,n=1:

(Example content of log sent to Amazon)

 

Solution

Ebs provided a way to suppress this log file exchange. He disables the creation of the log files on the device through patching the file /usr/bin/showlog. However, the file looks different on a Paperwhite than in the post of ebs so I investigated a little. I found that if you want to apply this patch on a Paperwhite (FW 5.3.5) you have to change the files according to this.

 

--- showlog     2009-05-08 17:22:51.000000000 -0700
+++ showlog_none        2009-07-19 14:44:08.000000000 -0700
@@ -291,8 +291,8 @@
- print_stream_header $NUMFILES >> "$OUTFILE" - $GZIP_HEADER_TYPE $ALLFILES >> "$OUTFILE" + print_stream_header 0 >> "$OUTFILE" + $GZIP_HEADER_TYPE "" >> "$OUTFILE" rm -rf $KINDLE_STATUS_MESSAGE_LOG_ZIP rm -rf $KINDLE_STATUS_MESSAGE_LOG

Credits

  • Original tutorial by ebs
  • Tutorial amendments by Kim Hauser

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