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Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

fortune.com

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Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

#31

Post by 40acres »

0x0 wrote: post #30
40acres wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What settings can you change in the app that are not available through the headphones?

Language, device name, firmware updates, voice-prompts, auto-off-timer, list of paired devices, multi-headset-mode, and so on. The app is almost mandatory, especially since iOS pushes you to download it on connect.

Interesting. I have QC35s but have never downloaded the app, although I have Android so I'm not sure how pushy iOS is. I've been able to use the headphones regularly without the App. The features you mention don't seem that important to me.

Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

#32

Post by ungzd »

Reading about spying headphones on website where video with sound starts automatically and continues to play when pressing pause (but jumps to right corner, just like hoaxes for Windows 95 where "start" button evaded mouse) — we're living in adtechpunk world.

Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

#33

Post by Chaebixi »

pinewurst wrote: post #6
Karunamon wrote: post #5

So what are the chances this never goes anywhere thanks to a clickwrap EULA that's shoved into your face in 3pt font the moment the app starts? "Well, your honor, he agreed.."

EULA for other Bose app (Connect EULA seems not to be available online): https://hearphones.bose.com/eula "YOUR USE OF THE SOFTWARE ALSO OPERATES AS YOUR CONSENT TO THE COLLECTION, TRANSMISSION AND STORAGE OF CERTAIN STANDARD NETWORKING INFORMATION, DEVICE USAGE DATA, AND BOSE PRODUCT INFORMATION VIA THE INTERNET TO SERVERS OWNED OR CONTROLLED BY BOSE OR OPERATED BY THIRD PARTIES ON BEHALF OF BOSE"

IANAL, but haven't courts thrown out terms in click-through EULAs because a user wouldn't reasonably have been aware of what they were agreeing to?

Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

#34

Post by kirykl »

This is increasingly more common. Companies building in data collection to products and marketing it as a 'feature'. Especially in cars manufacturers, who are openly offering to sell this data. The unsettling part is most customers don't seem to mind.

Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

#35

Post by perseusprime11 »

Etheryte wrote: post #13
perseusprime11 wrote: post #10

Suing companies for improving your products is not a great idea.

How would providing third parties with the information on what I'm listening to improve the headphones?

They are probably just tracking the quality of sound through the signals. Don't you think?

Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

#36

Post by creeble »

40acres wrote: post #26
Arizhel wrote: post #8

What I think would be interesting is: what if a company like this made an app like this, but then clearly stated to users that it'd be collecting data on them and sending it to marketers? They could even pitch it as helping to keep prices "low". How much would this hurt sales? Would it even hurt sales at all? Given the proliferation of "smart TVs" and various IoT devices, I'm extremely skeptical that a company would…

Honestly I don't think so. No one who I know personally, outside one or two folks who also work in tech and would fit perfectly with HN's demographic, cares about tech spying on them. Friends of mine have gotten home assistants, video game console, smart TVs, etc for years without one thought of their data being sold to a third party.

I think, sadly, that this is the essence of the "problem". That is, few people outside of those who know about consumer data collection actually care about it.

And it is one reason why we are hurtling inexorably to Idiocracy...

Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

#38

Post by reaperhulk »

40acres wrote: post #31
0x0 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Language, device name, firmware updates, voice-prompts, auto-off-timer, list of paired devices, multi-headset-mode, and so on. The app is almost mandatory, especially since iOS pushes you to download it on connect.

Interesting. I have QC35s but have never downloaded the app, although I have Android so I'm not sure how pushy iOS is. I've been able to use the headphones regularly without the App. The features you mention don't seem that important to me.

I've also never downloaded the app and, in fact, didn't even know it existed. I've never been notified about it in any fashion on iOS?

Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

#39

Post by rhizome »

vr46 wrote: post #23

Hmm, not pleased, we have two sets of the 35 earphones and I use the app - well, I have to, else I can't change some settings on the earphones. This is totally overstepping the boundaries of what earphones/headphones should be doing. Any company that collects my data and moves it from under my purview to theirs should have to display or expose this data in the exact form that it's collected to the user, so we can see…

Bose (et al) thinks you're overstepping your bounds by having a problem with their monetization strategy.

Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

#40

Post by Johnny555 »

hammock wrote: post #11
Arizhel wrote: post #8

What I think would be interesting is: what if a company like this made an app like this, but then clearly stated to users that it'd be collecting data on them and sending it to marketers? They could even pitch it as helping to keep prices "low". How much would this hurt sales? Would it even hurt sales at all? Given the proliferation of "smart TVs" and various IoT devices, I'm extremely skeptical that a company would…

> Would it even hurt sales at all? Of course it would. What is the consumer benefit derived from the collection of this data?

Many consumers don't see their meta data as having any value to them so see giving it up as zero cost... Hence they don't care at all about tracking.
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