Your Kindle highlights and notes on your web-area - improved

(Originally posted 5/26/2009 10:33:00 AM)
Amazon just quietly started a new feature to display your highlighting and notes on a webpage that only you can see.  You can't edit them, just be able to see them.  You also can't share them.  I imagine most would want some privacy on the notes they write or even for what they choose to highlight.

UPDATE - 6/16/09 - 3:18 AM BIG improvement: Amazon has added a feature I particularly wanted because I was not interested in seeing the small amounts of highlighting or notes at one time, with all that paging to go through.
  They've added "See all your highlights and notes on one page" at the bottom of the page-reports. Excellent!

UPDATE - 5/26/09 - 1:50pm PDT I just noticed that you can SORT the data by column-title. Very nice addition.

See the Conditions of Use, which include keeping your password private, to protect confidentiality.

My guess is that once they get people used to the idea and feeling safe about it, they may offer sharing.  Obviously they'd have to put safeguards in there, so that people don't accidentally see what your private notes to yourself are or your areas of interest :-)

I just tried it, selecting a book for which I highlighted 70 sections but am only 44% through. It's really useful to be so easily reminded of what was important for me in the book so far, being able to see them far more easily than in looking at the summaries and links on the Kindle.

Also, it'd be easy to download them or printscreen them in some way but the section labelled "License and Site Access" stipulates that you will not download, extract, or modify it "except with the express written consent of Amazon" ... probably because the highlighted content belongs to the author and publisher and they'd obviously not want it used easily.  They also say you can't reproduce them, but it doesn't specifically mention printing.  After stating the conditions, they say this: "To obtain our express written permission, you may contact us at: amazonkindle-license@amazon.com ."

Interestingly, the use of the site is officially restricted to those 13 years of age or older. ?

And I don't understand this section:

REVIEWS, COMMENTS, COMMUNICATIONS, AND OTHER CONTENT
Visitors may post reviews, comments, photos, and other content; send communications; and submit suggestions, ideas, comments, questions, or other information, so long as the content is not..."

That must apply to some other section of that webpage feature.  But we'll find out.  It looks as if they plan to open it up so that you can share your information, to remain on the webpage, later on a personally-controlled basis, but I don't really have an idea what this section is for, though it's likely to create more interest in the book if they do open it up for voluntary sharing later.

I was alerted to this by a TechCrunch article by Erick Schonfeld.