Does It Really Matter?
A Kindle might not seem worth the bother, security-wise. It’s just ebooks, after all, right? But if the software security lapses, leaving millions of Kindles vulnerable, it could be a lot worse. For example, say a hacker develops or discovers an exploit for an older Kindle model. The result could be anything, up to and including stealing your account details. That’s a definite worst-case scenario and perhaps unlikely to happen. And even in this case, it’s pretty easy to protect yourself at the expense of a little inconvenience.
How to Stay Safe
First, remember that this doesn’t mean that your personal Kindle will stop getting security updates exactly four years after you buy it. The clock starts counting down only after that model is discontinued. Once your Kindle ages out and no longer gets security updates, you can still protect yourself. First, turn off Wi-Fi and—if it has one—the Kindle’s cellular connection. This renders your Kindle unreachable, and therefore very safe. You will not be able to use some features. Of course, the Kindle Store will be unavailable, but you will also lose access to Wikipedia lookups and WhisperSync. New books and samples will have to be bought via another computer and loaded onto the Kindle via USB, which is a real pain but doable. Another option is to switch to another brand of e-reader, like Kobo, but you may end up in the same situation, depending on the updated policies of whichever vendor you use. You will also have to deal with lock-in. Kindle titles cannot be transferred to other devices unless you rip the copy-protection from them first. This is one place where paper books are still a lot better than electronic books. A paper book lasts pretty much forever, and of course, contains only one book, doesn’t have a light, and so on. But neither does it ever need security updates, and you can sell it or pass it on to a friend without worrying about DRM. Unless laws change, fast obsolescence is a fact of life we accept in exchange for the convenience of gadgets. It may not be desirable or sustainable, but it’s where we’ve ended up. And you know what? You can always load that old Kindle up with all the books you’ve ever bought, erase the Wi-Fi password, and hand it over to one of your kids, nieces, or nephews. Try that with a paper library.
