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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)

#341

Post by flukus »

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

Have there been large advances in noise cancelling since 3.5mm jacks started to disappear?

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

#342

Post by cactus2093 »

niklasd wrote: post #182
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 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 didn’t find that an issue at all, and not sure what you mean about the laptop part I only use the mobile app to upgrade my qc 35s.

I do find the Bose UX to be horrible though for another reason, which is the incredibly stupid “feature” that the headphones can be connected to multiple devices at once. Since I use it both with my phone and laptop and they’re often in range of each other, sometimes the audio control will just switch back to the other device than the one I’m trying to use, I assume because of some background process that’s still open, and I lose my sound. If one device is on the edge of connectivity range, it’ll beep every couple of minutes as it connects and disconnects even though I’m not even using it. Then if I ever want to connect a third device like a tablet, it’s made to switch back and forth between exactly 2 devices not 3 so things get even more messed up.

It’s quite annoying, and I feel like I’m the only one bothered by these issues because I don’t see a lot of other people complaining. But I’ll definitely be switching to a different brand away from Bose when these headphones wear out. Probably the upcoming over ear Apple headphones, since I find airpods to not have any of these issues and generally work great at switching between two devices without being stolen back by the previous device.

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

#343

Post by shadowprofile77 »

briandear wrote: post #302
shadowprofile77 wrote: post #301

Truly, is it possible for tech companies today to release even one fucking product, even something so simple as headphones, without piling on all the desperate, grubby, scummy tracking bloat and related shit possible in an effort to turn you into a product EVEN when you're paying for their creations. It's revolting and sincerely deserves to be harshly punished by the market (if enough consumers could be bothered to g…

You mean like Beats or Apple AirPods? They don’t collect user data at all.

My exasperated comment isn't meant to deny that products like these don't exist, it's more of a recrimination of those companies (and they are far too many, with it becoming steadily more habitual among them all the time) which simply can't keep themselves from squeezing and grubbing and pawing at our personal information for the sake of every last drop of monetization taken to disgusting levels of disrespect even for paying customers. All of it justified by cliche boilerplate nonsense about "caring for your' privacy" while they cram as much of the opposite down your throat as possible.

I don't care that maybe, just maybe, company X doesn't sell my personal information as a user of theirs to third parties (though I steadily doubt more and more about the claims of any company promising that it doesn't, and then there are also unintentional data leaks of things they supposedly don't keep stored) I also want goddam company X itself to not pry into my life so much just because I use a fucking pair of headphones or a blender, or a refrigerator or any number of other products that are being designed more often by the day to track everything you do with them and feed it all back to their creators. The sheer arrogance of the whole trend deserves much more criticism than it gets.

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

#344

Post by flukus »

dkersten wrote: post #239
maest wrote: post #229

The move to no-jack phones really only exacerbates this problem. It's difficult for manufacturers to justify an app for wired headphones, but, now that bluetooth is becoming the new norm, there's suddenly a justification for instrusive, data-collecting apps. This whole story is a really good reason for keeping headphone jacks on phones.

I would rather give up on a smartphone than give up on my wireless headphones. Hell, I was without a phone for a few months a couple of years back and it felt liberating. It’ll be my excuse to be a permanent smartphone luddite.

I did the same, went without a phone for a few weeks (getting repaired/replaced) and it taught me a lot about how much I was overusing it. The most important change was turning off nearly all notifications (interruptions), but I've slid back into other bad habits like mobile reddit/HN since.

I've toyed with the idea of going back to a dedicated MP3 player for music and audio books, they should be cheaper and smaller than the last time I had one and with actual buttons they have a superior user interface (phones are versatile but a bit shit at everything). After that I could probably ditch a smart phone entirely.

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

#345

Post by vladvasiliu »

eternalban wrote: post #248
monksy wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Did you try raising the volume directly on the headphones? If it's a WH-XM1000, you can do that by sliding the finger up on the right earphone.

For some reason mine's volume works as expected on an iphone (phone and headphone control the same volume) but on a pc (windows / mac / linux) the controls work separately...

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

#346

Post by vladvasiliu »

taneq wrote: post #265
p1esk wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I have a pair of Bose QC20s which are (or were, when I bought them) state of the art for noise canceling, and have a 3.5mm headphone jack. No app required and they even work as normal wired headphones if the battery goes flat.

Same with the Sony WH1000 xm3. The only thing missing when working wired is the microphone, but I basically never use that anyway.

The problem with the wire, at least the provided one, is that it's pretty stiff so it picks up a lot of noise and the plug doesn't lock to the headphone side so I'm not sure how well it would hold during prolonged usage. But the plug is standard, so at least the cable can be changed easily.

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

#347

Post by trissylegs »

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…

This was raised when Australia rolled out its' Contract tracing app. On Android if you need bluetooth access you have to ask for locat ion access, because it's possible to derive location from bluetooth data. (Like wifi data).

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

#348

Post by vladvasiliu »

dkdk8283 wrote: post #263
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Why would someone buy noise cancelling headphones if they don’t need that feature? The QC II’s bluetooth range is horrible. Less than half of the QC I’s.

They may want to disable that feature occasionally.

I sometimes wear glasses which prevent the headphones from forming a perfect seal. If I walk around with the headphones on, I get a "wow" going on which is quite tiring. Turn the NC off and they're ok. I only rarely do this, so I wouldn't have bought a dedicated pair only for this purpose.

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

#349

Post by eternalban »

vladvasiliu wrote: post #345
eternalban wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Did you try raising the volume directly on the headphones? If it's a WH-XM1000, you can do that by sliding the finger up on the right earphone. For some reason mine's volume works as expected on an iphone (phone and headphone control the same volume) but on a pc (windows / mac / linux) the controls work separately...

Thank you, that did it!

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

#350

Post by oblio »

flyingpenguin wrote: post #329
dkersten wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, how long are people spending on the toilet that they need Internet? And is hygiene not a concern?

From the many people I have asked this question, I think the disconnect between toilet phone users and us is the availability of "Alone time". Specifically no matter what you do in your house/work for some there is always low key chance of someone bothering you. This is not the case when you appear to be using the toilet. Still seems weird to me though.

Well, imagine you have small kids :-) Then it becomes less weird. Especially if you don't have a big house.

Also: https://en.rockcontent.com/blog/ipad-usage/

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