HAVE BOSE BEEN SPYING ON THEIR CUSTOMERS?
That's the question for the courts to decide after a class-action lawsuit was filed in Illinois this week, alleging Bose, via their companion app Bose Connect collected personal information not covered under the company's privacy policy.
Washington Post reported that main plaintiff, Kyle Zak, purchased a pair of wireless headphones last month. Registering the product online with Bose, along with personal information and the product serial numberr which is standard practice for many purchases these days, he then downloaded the Bose Connect app.
The companion app offers additional functionality as well as customisation of sound parameters. The lawsuit claims that the Bose Connect app is constantly sending data base to the company, including personally identifiable information, what the user is listening to, along with the product's serial number. It is alleged that this information and the transmission of the data back to the company is not covered by Bose's privacy policy.
It is also reported that the lawsuit alleges Bose was sharing this information with a third party data mining company called Segment.io, according to the law firm representing Zak.
The complaint specifies numerous Bose products including QuietComfort 35, SoundSport Wireless, Sound Sport Pulse Wireless, QuietControl 30, SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II, and SoundLink Color II.
Under Illinois state statutes, it is alleged Bose are in breach of deceptive business practice, and eavesdropping and wiretapping laws.
Bose have not as yet responded to the claims.
Next time you download an app, it might pay to read the policies and terms and conditions closely and understand just what data you may or may not be sharing.
Marc Rushton
StereoNET’s Founder and Publisher was born in England and raised on British Hi-Fi before moving to Australia. He developed an early love of music and playing bass guitar before discovering the studio and the other side of the mixing desk. After writing for print magazines, Marc saw the future in digital publishing and founded the first version of StereoNET in 1999.
Posted in: Headphones | Industry
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