Every book you read on your Kindle (or Kindle app) and every word you highlight in those ebooks is recorded by Amazon and may be shared by the bookselling behemoth with the federal government.
The Guardian (U.K.) explains how the agents of the surveillance state are surreptitiously storing all the annotations readers make in electronic copies of books:
Just take a look at the Kindle terms of use. As you wrestle with the rantings of Austria's most lethal watercolourist [Adolf Hitler], your device is providing Amazon with "information related to the Digital Content on your Kindle and Supported Devices and your use of it ... such as last page read and content archiving". It's also reporting back on information "including annotations, bookmarks, notes, highlights, or similar markings", and may be storing those reports on "servers that are located outside the country in which you live" — say hello, China — all so they can "personalise and continually improve your shopping experience," or to "send offers to selected groups of Amazon.co.uk customers on behalf of other businesses", or to, erm, "comply with the law; enforce or apply our Conditions of Use and other agreements; or protect the rights, property or safety of Amazon.co.uk, our users or others" — oh, hello NSA.
It's not just about Jeff Bezos, of course. Whether you're exploring fascism on your iPad or your Android phone, Big Brother is watching. These kind of concerns tend to raise little more than a shrug around these parts, but you might want to think twice before downloading your electronic copy of Mao's Little Red Book of Guerilla Warfare.
While The Guardian is right to warn readers that the NSA and other watchers employed in the federal government’s Panopticon that their reading lists and highlights are being monitored, it is likely that the wardens in Washington are less concerned with people who read Mein Kampf on the sly or mull over Mao between classes. No, the government is much warier of those who would download and digest the words of those whose writings would elicit doubts about the magnanimity of the central planners and their purported concern for the safety of Americans.
More...
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/item/20126-big-brother-knows-what-you-ve-been-reading