Password? for Kindle

[Bette]

I am concerned about kids downloading titles while the Kindle is checked out. According to Amazon, there is no way to lock out the account from students downloading new titles. This is really going to put the kibosh on our purchase of Kindles. Anybody know of a way to prevent this?
Thanks

[Will DeLamater]

You can tie your Kindle to a gift card, as Kathy Shrock told me a while back, so that your "exposure is limited to what you have on the card. I think that a bit of collaboration with the kids about what books you would like to see on the device, and maybe even allowing them to participate in the selection and buying process, would be an additional way of engaging them around the limits you feel are appropriate. Of course, you can have them turn off the wireless or otherwise discourage its use. But ultimately, linking the account to a gift card is the best work around for the problem you describe. Here are some instructions from Amazon on how to do this:

Updating 1-Click Settings for Gift Card Purchases

You are not required to have a credit or debit card on your Amazon.com account to make digital purchases such as Kindle books, but you must establish a default 1-Click billing address on your Amazon.com account to use Amazon.com gift cards for digital purchases. If you don't already have a 1-Click billing address on your account, follow the instructions below to add an address without entering a credit or debit card to your account.

To add a 1-Click Billing Address for Gift Card purchases:

1. Visit the Manage Addresses and 1-Click Settings page in Your Account.
2. Click the Enter a new address button.
3. Enter the address information and click the Continue button.

Set the address as your default by clicking the link on the address labeled "Click here to make this your 1-Click default address." You may be prompted to associate a credit or debit card with the address, but entering one of these payment methods is not required.

Redeeming Amazon.com Gift Cards

You must first redeem a Gift Card to Your Account. The funds the will be applied automatically to your next Kindle book purchase on your Kindle or from the Kindle Store on Amazon.com.

To redeem a Gift Card to Your Account:

1. Visit the Your Account page.
2. Click "Apply a Gift Card to your account."
3. Sign in with your e-mail address and password.
4. Enter your claim code and click "Redeem now." Your funds will automatically be applied to your next order.

My article at EduKindle from 2008 includes some of Kathy's coimments. You can read it here.

[Will DeLamater]

The link to the instructions from Amazon above can be found here: Setting Your Kindle Payment Method.

[Bette]

I am more concerned with those high school students who would abuse the privilage, even after our open discussion, and down load something inappropriate. I would like to have some type of password that I control. Does a gift card act as such?

[Will DeLamater]

Understood. What Kathy's group did was to purchase the books they wanted from the gift card and ran the balance down to where kids couldn't order anything. There are free books, of course, that they could order, but not much that would create an objection, I don't think. A password is clearly not available, but by tying the Kindle account to a low-dollar-amount gift card, you can basically stop students from being able to download anything.

Bette said:

I am more concerned with those high school students who would abuse the privilage, even after our open discussion, and down load something inappropriate. I would like to have some type of password that I control. Does a gift card act as such?

[Jaynen Kates]

Unless I am mistaken, I believe you can register and de-register a kindle as many times as you want. Wouldn't it solve the problem if the school just de-registered the kindles before allowing the students to use them. Students could actually re-register with their own amazon account and buy items with their own money, but this seems unlikely to me.

[Jaynen Kates]

Now that I think further, I'm not sure if the content stays on the kindle when you de-register it. I'll have to try it.

[Will DeLamater]

Good idea. I don't think the material comes off the Kindle but it could be lost from the online archive as associated with that Kindle, meaning re-registration would not "re-connect" the content...? Not sure why it wouldn't, though. Let's get this answer; it is interesting!

Jaynen Kates said:

Now that I think further, I'm not sure if the content stays on the kindle when you de-register it. I'll have to try it.

[Dee Martin]

I just purchased a used Kindle and deregistered and re-registered it. The content that came with it stayed on it but I did read that it would not be archived on Amazon. The part that concerned me was that there were no questions asked when I deregistered it and the person I bought it from didn't even get an email questioning it. I have been an Amazon customer for several years and I don't know if that made a difference but my question is this. Would students be able to just click and register the kindle in their name with no notification? My account is tied to a credit card and maybe the fact that they already have that information makes a difference. Something to check into anyway.

WillD said:

Good idea. I don't think the material comes off the Kindle but it could be lost from the online archive as associated with that Kindle, meaning re-registration would not "re-connect" the content...? Not sure why it wouldn't, though. Let's get this answer; it is interesting!

Jaynen Kates said:

Now that I think further, I'm not sure if the content stays on the kindle when you de-register it. I'll have to try it.

[Will DeLamater]

Excellent point, Dee. A deregistered Kindle can be registered by anyone without restriction, I think. That would not be a desirable outcome with students! As for archiving, one can always do a backup of files on one's own computer via the USB connection.

Dee Martin said:

I just purchased a used Kindle and deregistered and re-registered it. The content that came with it stayed on it but I did read that it would not be archived on Amazon. The part that concerned me was that there were no questions asked when I deregistered it and the person I bought it from didn't even get an email questioning it. I have been an Amazon customer for several years and I don't know if that made a difference but my question is this. Would students be able to just click and register the kindle in their name with no notification? My account is tied to a credit card and maybe the fact that they already have that information makes a difference. Something to check into anyway.

WillD said:

Good idea. I don't think the material comes off the Kindle but it could be lost from the online archive as associated with that Kindle, meaning re-registration would not "re-connect" the content...? Not sure why it wouldn't, though. Let's get this answer; it is interesting!

Jaynen Kates said:

Now that I think further, I'm not sure if the content stays on the kindle when you de-register it. I'll have to try it.

[Dee Martin]

Just to clarify - the previous owner didn't de-register the kindle and I did not have her password. She was a friend and was letting me leave it in her name so I could read the books she already had on it. Over the weekend I did some research and found that the books would remain on the kindle. I de-registered and re-registered with no questions asked. I then asked her to check and see if she had gotten any kind of notification or request to verify and she had not.

WillD said:

Excellent point, Dee. A deregistered Kindle can be registered by anyone without restriction, I think. That would not be a desirable outcome with students! As for archiving, one can always do a backup of files on one's own computer via the USB connection.

Dee Martin said:

I just purchased a used Kindle and deregistered and re-registered it. The content that came with it stayed on it but I did read that it would not be archived on Amazon. The part that concerned me was that there were no questions asked when I deregistered it and the person I bought it from didn't even get an email questioning it. I have been an Amazon customer for several years and I don't know if that made a difference but my question is this. Would students be able to just click and register the kindle in their name with no notification? My account is tied to a credit card and maybe the fact that they already have that information makes a difference. Something to check into anyway.

WillD said:

Good idea. I don't think the material comes off the Kindle but it could be lost from the online archive as associated with that Kindle, meaning re-registration would not "re-connect" the content...? Not sure why it wouldn't, though. Let's get this answer; it is interesting!

Jaynen Kates said:

Now that I think further, I'm not sure if the content stays on the kindle when you de-register it. I'll have to try it.

[Bette]

Here is a new concern! The new Kindle connects to the internet! How do you prevent that connectivity? Do I need to purchase old Kindles? Again, I want to write a grant for a classroom set for my reluctant high school readers!

[Oliver Chase]

Yes, the new Kindles can connect to the internet, but you can work around that. We needed to disable the internet connection for other, non-academic reasons, but this discussion came up in searches, so I thought I'd post what we did to solve the problem. The easy suggestion is just to deregister it, as has been pointed out here for other reasons. But a student can reregister the Kindle if he/she has an Amazon account, so this didn't work for us.

The better solution is to call Amazon's tech support (1-877-453-4512). You can ask them to disable the wireless connection/Whispernet. (The person I talked to called it a radio.) Then, the student would have to have the guts to call Amazon to reenable the radio, if that's even possible. In the process, you can't browse the web, *or purchase material from the Kindle* and have it wirelessly delivered. The teacher could still purchase content, download via the PC (there's directions for if you're outside their coverage), and transfer via USB. Essentially, you've solved both the internet issue and the need for a password as most of this discussion is about. The only hole, as I understand it from this discussion, that's left is if someone goes to the trouble to transfer something via USB to the Kindle. I don't think there's a way to prevent that, but you could just connect it to your computer and check/delete things occasionally.

I think some of the Amazon people are not aware they can remotely disable the radio. Just don’t take no for an answer, and make sure you get transferred to their experts, not just the people reading a script who will claim this isn’t possible. But it is possible, so good luck!


Bette said:

Here is a new concern! The new Kindle connects to the internet! How do you prevent that connectivity? Do I need to purchase old Kindles? Again, I want to write a grant for a classroom set for my reluctant high school readers!