Nook

Unlike Amazon, maker of the Kindle eReader, pretty much all Barnes & Nobles sells is books (OK, and a few games, some music and movies, but mostly books). Like Amazon, though, Barnes & Noble uses their eReaders and eReader apps to collect a good deal of information on you to target you with ads to sell you more stuff. And, they partner with third party ad networks to customize and target you with even more ads from companies other than Barnes & Noble. Not great for people who just want to enjoy a good book.

Barnes & Noble’s privacy policy says they can collect information on you like name, email address, phone number, birthdate, what books you look at, buy, and read, information about the device you use, and lots of location information. This location information is an interesting one.

Barnes & Noble says they can track your location in a couple of ways. One, through your device. They say, “Barnes & Noble and third party application providers may automatically collect real-time geographic location information or other location-based information about you and your Device or other mobile device on which the App is installed.” So, Barnes & Noble and other third party providers they work with can know where you are in real-time. Yuck. They also say they can track your location when you log onto the free wi-fi they offer in their stores to Nook users, where they also say Nook users can read ebooks for free. When you log onto the wi-fi in a Barnes and Noble store, they say they can track your location, device identifiers, date, time, information about what you interact with, and “how you experience” their stores. They use this information to, among other things, “deliver push notifications and other content to your Device when you are near, enter, and move through our stores.” Yeah, not a lot of privacy when you take your Nook eReader or app to the store.

So, Barnes & Noble tracks your reading behaviors, your location, as well as information about you and the devices you use and then shares that data with third parties for targeted, interest-based advertising. What’s the worst that could happen? Well, it would really suck to be a young queer kid, hoping to learn more about the LGBTQ+ world by taking that Nook you got for Christmas down to the Barnes & Noble to use the free wi-fi to read the free ebooks where you think you have some privacy from your potentially unaccepting parents. But then Barnes & Noble and the third party ad networks they share data with know that you -- a young, curious, scared queer kid -- are reading books from the LGBTQ+ section and starts showing ads on not just the Nook, but other devices your parents have access to. Your parents see those ads, start questioning you about your sexual orientation, and now you are outed to potentially unaccepting parents. Yes, this is a worst-case scenario, so hopefully it never happens. Still, it’s a scenario that many LGBTQ+ people worry about. We have to say the Nook comes with *Privacy Not Included.