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Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

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Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#201

Post by jmole »

monksy wrote: post #177
mandelbrotwurst wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Geez, that's brutal. I'm glad I'm seeing this....it never crossed my mind that this sort of thing would be something that might get built into headphones. If I want to avoid this sort of thing, I'm thinking / hoping it's sufficient to simply avoid headphones that require an app. Does that seem right?

I mean you can't really avoid it. It's pushed on to you and theres no clear understanding about how tied the headphones are until you buy it. The WH-1000MX are very good headphones, but sony gonna shit the bed. (PSN anyone)

They're a company that makes a lot of decisions from the viewpoint of participants in a high-trust society like Japan. Many times, those viewpoints don't translate well to other markets.

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#202

Post by djkoolaide »

Kye wrote: post #131
acd wrote: post #115

I tend to use passive headphones with 3.5mm jack, they have no electronics in them except the small speakers. They do not collect data. They are also used by musicians when doing audio mixing so its should sounds neutral and good. That the headphones does not have electronics and batteries means they will last longer and thus be be better for the environment.

All my MDR-7506s needed after 3 years was new ear pads.

Going on 10 years with mine. There's a reason 7506s are loved by engineers around the world. Every part is user-serviceable.

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#203

Post by josteink »

p1esk wrote: post #199
josteink wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I want to avoid this sort of thing, I'm thinking / hoping it's sufficient to simply avoid headphones that require an app. Or just get one with a good old 3.5mm jack. Beyer Dynamic, AKG and Shure have several options much cheaper than these Bose or Sony headsets which still give you at least 10x the audio-performance. For headsets, if you care about usability, portability, longevity and performance, wired is stil…

Good luck with this if you want state of the art in noise canceling

I’ve had the best heat headphones Bose has to offer in the Quiet Comfort series and to me this “state of the art noise cancellation” sounds like artefact- and distortion-inducing noise.

I’ve returned them and replaced them with much better, naturally damping, closed head-phones. And the audio is so much better, at a fraction of the cost.

Noise cancellation in the hifi-space is just snake oil, and I’m not having it.

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#204

Post by maps7 »

As someone with both Bose QC IIs and the Sony WH-1000MX, this is annoying but not much I can do about it - they're expensive and I doubt I could resell them for as much (would reselling even be ethical now?). I also really like noise cancelling, especially now I am working from home.

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#205

Post by mandelbrotwurst »

josteink wrote: post #189
mandelbrotwurst wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Geez, that's brutal. I'm glad I'm seeing this....it never crossed my mind that this sort of thing would be something that might get built into headphones. If I want to avoid this sort of thing, I'm thinking / hoping it's sufficient to simply avoid headphones that require an app. Does that seem right?

> If I want to avoid this sort of thing, I'm thinking / hoping it's sufficient to simply avoid headphones that require an app. Or just get one with a good old 3.5mm jack. Beyer Dynamic, AKG and Shure have several options much cheaper than these Bose or Sony headsets which still give you at least 10x the audio-performance. For headsets, if you care about usability, portability, longevity and performance, wired is stil…

I use both wired and wireless. Each has its own tradeoffs.

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#206

Post by jakereps »

maps7 wrote: post #204

As someone with both Bose QC IIs and the Sony WH-1000MX, this is annoying but not much I can do about it - they're expensive and I doubt I could resell them for as much (would reselling even be ethical now?). I also really like noise cancelling, especially now I am working from home.

I mean you can just not use the apps, can’t you? The headphones don’t magically ship data home through the device. The app is what you agree to their privacy policy through and is what reads all the metadata through usage and then sends it home. I deleted all of my headphone apps the first time I saw the note about sending all audio titles to Bose in the privacy policies.

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#207

Post by barry27 »

Good to see everyone responding in true HN style and just telling us about their own lives. Well done everyone on your choice of headphones.

Did anyone else wonder how the headphones achieved the feat of measuring the author's leg length without their knowledge? Or of collecting menstruation statistics? I didnt know there was a Menstruation API on phones these days.

In short, the author bought a pair of headphones that promise to do all sorts of amazing stats and then found it alarming when the headphones said that in order to do these stats they'd need some data.

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#208

Post by bosie »

josteink wrote: post #189
mandelbrotwurst wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Geez, that's brutal. I'm glad I'm seeing this....it never crossed my mind that this sort of thing would be something that might get built into headphones. If I want to avoid this sort of thing, I'm thinking / hoping it's sufficient to simply avoid headphones that require an app. Does that seem right?

> If I want to avoid this sort of thing, I'm thinking / hoping it's sufficient to simply avoid headphones that require an app. Or just get one with a good old 3.5mm jack. Beyer Dynamic, AKG and Shure have several options much cheaper than these Bose or Sony headsets which still give you at least 10x the audio-performance. For headsets, if you care about usability, portability, longevity and performance, wired is stil…

usability and portability are what makes BT headphones great. Which BD or Shure gives me 10x the audio-performance while still being able to be used without cables (optionally)?

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#209

Post by mandelbrotwurst »

monksy wrote: post #177
mandelbrotwurst wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Geez, that's brutal. I'm glad I'm seeing this....it never crossed my mind that this sort of thing would be something that might get built into headphones. If I want to avoid this sort of thing, I'm thinking / hoping it's sufficient to simply avoid headphones that require an app. Does that seem right?

I mean you can't really avoid it. It's pushed on to you and theres no clear understanding about how tied the headphones are until you buy it. The WH-1000MX are very good headphones, but sony gonna shit the bed. (PSN anyone)

Hmmm....well, I'm at least aware of the issue now based on this conversation and will definitely at least try to determine whether it applies to any of my future purchases.

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#210

Post by flyinghamster »

monksy wrote: post #167

The article should have buried sony for how egregious they are. They require the app to collect location information, and ear. https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/00233341 I'm not sure what else they collect.. but those are the 2 bad ones. They've got a few settings that are software controlled (one being the bluetooth's internal volume) What happens if you get a software update and you open the app on…

I am fervently glad that I'm happy with my WH-1000XM3 in its stock configuration. I took one look at what the permissions they wanted for the app, and said "No effing way."

I shouldn't have been too surprised, though, given that it was Sony that brought us rootkits on music CDs.

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