Amazon's new Kindle Fire HD tablets come with an updated version of the Silk web browser. The browser now has a Trending Now section that informs a Kindle Fire user of the sites that are popular among all owners. The Silk speeds up the web browsing experience by using a split-browser approach: Amazon's cloud infrastructure would compress and simplify Web sites before they're sent to the user's Kindle Fire. With Trending Now, Amazon is not only just seeing the pages accessed by users, it is now keeping count of those pages and sharing the most popular pages or trending content to all Fire owners. To address privacy concerns, the online retailer has said that that a user can opt out; by switching off though, the user would no longer receive suggestions from Trending Now.
What Else You Need To Know
- Other improvements to the Silk browser include support for HTML5 web standards, improved UI, and at least 30% reduction in page load latency.
Other sources
While Kindle Fire users should be aware of the web tracking capabilities in the Silk web browser, given that the Kindle Fire is essentially a way for Amazon to track and sell items and services through its online store, opting out of Silk's online tracking hardly represents a major tightening of privacy.- Lawrence Latif, The Inquirer
It doesn’t mark a material change in how the company treats user data — when the original version of Silk was launched Amazon said it "observes user behavior acrosss a large number of sites," but being reminded of that fact every time you open a new tab isn’t exactly comforting.- Jeff Blagdon, The Verge
- Engadget
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Amazon Silk browser on Kindle Fire tracks page visits to generate trends, isn't as spooky as it sounds
It's a clever trick that takes advantage of Silk's server-based caching to find out what sites are popular among owners.
- Other
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Silk browser on Kindle Fire HD adds faster page loads, Trending Now list
While it speeds up the browsing experience, it also means Amazon can see anonymized data about the pages its users are accessing.
- Mashable
- Amazon to Track User Behavior on Kindle Fire HD Tablets [REPORT]
- Other
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Amazon confirms that the Kindle Fire's Silk browser tracks users
The Amazon spokesperson confirmed that the so-called "cloud acceleration" feature is an opt-out service that all Kindle Fire users are automatically enrolled in by default.
- Tech Radar
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Kindle Fire's Silk browser adds Trending Now, will track user behavior
With this, Amazon hopes to deliver breaking or newsworthy content to you before you even knew you wanted it.