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GNU Operating SystemMalware in the Kindle Swindle
Other examples of proprietary malwareWe refer to this product as the Amazon Swindle because it has Digital restrictions management (DRM) and other malicious functionalities.
Malware and nonfree software are two different issues. Malware means the program is designed to mistreat or harm users when it runs. The difference between free software and nonfree software is in whether the users have control of the program or vice versa. It's not directly a question of what the program does when it runs. However, in practice nonfree software is often malware, because the developer's awareness that the users would be powerless to fix any malicious functionalities tempts the developer to impose some.
- Type of malware
- Back doors
- Surveillance
- Digital restrictions management or “DRM” means functionalities designed to restrict what users can do with the data in their computers.
Amazon Kindle Swindle Back Doors
The Amazon Kindle has a back door that has been used to remotely erase books.
The Kindle also has a universal back door.
Amazon downgraded the software in users' Swindles so that those already rooted would cease to function at all.
Amazon Kindle Swindle Surveillance
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has examined and found various kinds of surveillance in the Swindle and other e-readers.
Amazon Kindle Swindle DRM
The Amazon Kindle has DRM. That article is flawed in that it fails to treat DRM as an ethical question; it takes for granted that whatever Amazon might do to its users is legitimate. It refers to DRM as digital “rights” management, which is the spin term used to promote DRM. Nonetheless it serves as a reference for the facts.
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