The Dark Side of Digital Reading: E-Books as Corporate Surveillance Tools

There is an electronic trail behind every single reader when they read a newspaper online, buy an eBook, or watch a video on their computer. For companies and law enforcement agencies alike, this trail is likely to be a lucrative source of new revenue as well as an increasingly important source of surveillance.

Americans are reading digital books at a rate of three out of ten. 

In a market where the majority of readers are subject to both Big Publishing’s greed and those of Big Tech, it is no surprise that these readers are subject to both the greed of Big Publishing and the priorities of Big Tech when it comes to accessing online textbooks or checking out the latest bestseller from the public library. In 2022, the e-reader market will be held by 72% of Kindles while the rest will be dominated by other manufacturers. 

The truth is that the real product of Big Tech companies like Amazon has nothing to do with books since the real product is their technology.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’s secret weapon is the data that is collected from his customers. There’s no doubt that Amazon’s retail empire has been built on a complex network of infrastructures, and questionable working practices, but without an intricate understanding of what millions of people buy and browse every day, Amazon’s success would be unimaginable.

Ever since Amazon expanded its business beyond selli

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