this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2026
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Not to be a menace, but do you have a specific source on the claim that that it collects telemetry on sideloaded books? In the Github link there's a line that says it "locks down telemetry" without elaborating further, I couldn't see anything else about it in the docs and a quick web search doesn't bring up anything about Kobo collecting telemetry on side-loaded books.
It'd just be nice to properly verify before I do anything.
The code is pretty self-explanatory.
If you’re interested in looking further:
Kobo’s current privacy policy says it collects reading-related usage information, including how often and for how long you consume digital content, as well as the genres, authors, and subjects you read.
Kobo’s Terms of Use contain a particularly relevant event explicitly called “Sideload,” which is described as occurring “when a user sideloads an EPUB.” So Kobo’s software does have telemetry associated with the act of sideloading.
https://github.com/seandheath/koboctl/blob/main/internal%2Fhardening%2Fhosts.go#L20
the code at the very least works, and blocks trackers including google analytics, google ad tracking and hotjar behavior analytics. presumably this would happen in the default OS and initiated when clicking on (and maybe even turning pages on) any book, including sideloaded ones. I assume this doesn't work in koreader regardless of whether you disable those domains or not. If you want you can always contact the author.