As an aside, who's idea was it at Fortune to have an autoplaying video that, when paused, starts playing again the moment you scroll down the page?!?
Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says
41–50 of 215 posts
Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says
#42So 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.."
From the Privacy Policy in the app: http://i.imgur.com/rQZYTvT.png http://i.imgur.com/0YD1D9l.png
Scary. "The third parties are not bound by this privacy policy, but by their own privacy policies, which we won't link to or spell out all of our third party companies."
No indication that the data collected (independently of Boise) is even anonymized.
Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
What makes you believe this? Why would they not also send through names and fingerprints of played music so they can use those tracks to "improve compression over bluetooth for the things people are actually listening to"? I could see quite a few engineers thinking this is perfectly acceptable, without considering the repercussions.
And this doesn't even account for the "third party SDKs, bound by privacy policies not covered in this document".
Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
Don't you think? Nobody that read the article or the complaint itself thinks that.
https://www.scribd.com/document/345620278/Bose-Privacy-Compl...
(i) collect and record the titles of the music and audio files its customers choose to play through their Bose wireless products and (ii) transmit such data along with other personal identifiers to third-parties—including a data miner—without its customers’ knowledge or consent.
Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says
#45Hmm, 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…
This reminds me of a bluetooth toothbrush I just bought that requires my location to be enabled to change the settings via the oral b app which is required since this model has less buttons than others.
The reason why I bought a bluetooth toothbrush was for a wireless hardware clock, brushing timer, and ranking system which also really doesn't work correctly even with the app.
Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says
#46Reading 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.
You don't have to put up with that. Protect yourself. Install uBlock Origin and NoScript.
Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says
#47This link has an autoplay video with sound. Can we get some kind of title warning on these, like the [pdf] or [1927] warnings? I really don't want to click on these without being prepared. Lacking a better alternative, for now, I'm just flagging it.
Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says
#48So 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"
Thanks Bose. This is enough to make sure I never touch the crap you sell
Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
It isn't obvious, but the mention of the app is on the inner flap of the packaging
Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says
#50Suing companies for improving your products is not a great idea.
...Whereas underhandedly surveilling people who are naive enough to buy a product from you and then profiting from the fruits of one's panty-sniffing is a brilliant one?
That completely depends upon the fine that is imposed, if any at all..