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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)

#241

Post by rlayton2 »

someguyorother wrote: post #188
myth2018 wrote: post #154

Drugstores in Brazil are doing it and that concerns me A LOT. Their modus operandi is to ask you your CPF (it's like an SSN, but not that secret and powerful) and, if you refuse to tell them, you are not eligible for some discounts which can reach 40% in some more expensive items. Customers happily agree to give their CPFs, completely unaware they are of the potentially disastrous consequences, and we are not even of…

How do they know the CPF you give is really yours (or exists at all)? Do they also insist that you use a credit card?

This is a good point. I often "misspell" private information if its not an official form. If someone had more motivation, they could do a "different-secure-number-per-provider" trick and work out who leaked the information.

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

#242

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

riquito wrote: post #190
niklasd wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently tried out wireless noise-cancelling headphones from both Bose and Sony, and (the important privacy issues aside) the user experience with these apps is just horrible. You unpack your Bose headphone, eager to use them. But before that, you have to download an app on the iPhone, then download a software update program on your laptop, which in turn opens a program in the browser that downloads an update, then…

I don't know about Bose, but you can connect the Sony headphones with the normal bluetooth pairing, there's no app required

I have the Bose Quiet Comfort 35 II. I use them with a MacBook Pro through Bluetooth pairing. I never installed any app and never connected the headphones physically to anything.

What is the OP talking about? And why would anyone install an app to use headphones?

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

#243

Post by [deleted] »

josteink wrote: post #203
p1esk wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

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

#244

Post by coronadisaster »

RealStickman_ wrote: post #226
coronadisaster wrote: post #178

This reminds me that I still need to root my phone so that I can remove Google's crapware...

It'd probably be easier to just go and flash lineageos and microG (if you need that) than trying to remove google stuff.

That's probably what i should do... Hopefully my phone is fully supported.

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

#245

Post by colecut »

I have both Beats Wireless noise cancelling headphones (provided by work) and Bose wireless noise cancelling..

I have never even thought about downloading the apps for either of them. I never even thought to consider if they have apps. I just bluetooth to my phone and listen to music.

Am I really missing out?

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

#246

Post by Vinnl »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #242
riquito wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about Bose, but you can connect the Sony headphones with the normal bluetooth pairing, there's no app required

I have the Bose Quiet Comfort 35 II. I use them with a MacBook Pro through Bluetooth pairing. I never installed any app and never connected the headphones physically to anything. What is the OP talking about? And why would anyone install an app to use headphones?

Unfortunately you can't disable noise cancelling without the app.

Well, you can, but you first have to enable that using the app.

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

#247

Post by barrkel »

josteink wrote: post #203
p1esk wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Noise cancelling works quite well on planes.

It's not for hi-fi. Livable-fi in combination with noise cancellation is a bonus. The headphones are for noise cancellation, not hi-fi.

(These cans are usually not too bad with noise cancellation turned off. But when you turn it on, it's because noise cancellation is what you want.)

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

#248

Post by eternalban »

monksy wrote: post #193
riquito wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about Bose, but you can connect the Sony headphones with the normal bluetooth pairing, there's no app required

Good luck when internal settings get changed (as in internal volume)

I just ran into this very issue. I opted out of downloading anything. It was working fine until just now for whatever reason the volume is so low that I can hear a background hiss. The source laptop volume is maxed out.

If this is Sony's way of forcing me to use their app, they guessed wrong. I just bought these and am considering returning it.

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

#249

Post by Polylactic_acid »

mandelbrotwurst wrote: post #172
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…

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?

You have to do prior research. Bose don't tell you on the box that the headphones are bricked until you connect it to the app to do an update before it will allow you to connect it as a normal bluetooth device.

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

#250

Post by Polylactic_acid »

catchmeifyoucan wrote: post #155

I use Bluetooth headphones, but almost never use or bother to set up the associated app. So hopefully Bluetooth pairing alone isn’t enough. Looks a lot of these details are collected through a companion app.

When I got my bose headphones they would not connect as bluetooth headphones until I installed the app. After that they would but I still had to sign up and accept location access the first time.
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