Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019) • Hacker News Board

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

#391

Post by chooseaname » Mon, Jul 27, 2020, 2:51 PM UTC

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…

Nope. They have to generate recurrent income in some form or another, otherwise they won't get the green light.

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

#392

Post by marcosdumay » Mon, Jul 27, 2020, 2:55 PM UTC

myth2018 wrote: post #271

m463 wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an interesting thought. The european GDPR and I think the california CCPA have some sort of clause that says if you decide not to allow, you have to be treated the same. But loyalty discount cards and your drugstore example should have a way to get the discount without giving up your anonymity. This would be better for society.

Good to know about such clauses in GDPR and CCPA. I didn't take the time yet to read our own law in detail. I've read that it's gotten much inspiration from GDPR, but the articles I've read so far didn't mention such clauses, being more focused instead on aspects regarding data storing and sharing with third-parties. I'm going to read it thoroughly within the next days.

> and sharing with third-parties

It has a lot of rules with sharing with unrelated usage, whatever entity is using them (first or third party). On practice, that means they'll have to disclose every way they'll use the data, and get authorization for each one.

It doesn't restrict sharing it by itself, it's just that the third party will use the data, and thus will need your authorization.

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

#393

Post by Dirlewanger » Mon, Jul 27, 2020, 3:04 PM UTC

saurik wrote: post #76

caymanjim wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't. The app may ask for it, and there may be some benefit to the user if they provide it, but it's not like the headphones magically acquire any of the data the author is complaining about. If people want to give their personal information out, that's up to them. I personally limit what information I share, and I get annoyed when devices or apps try to sneakily get more information than I'm willing to intenti…

They care. It exudes as a cynicism about the world and continual jokes about talking to the FBI agent assigned to watch them. They (as are we) are just powerless to prevent it as every single service and every single platform and apparently every single product is collecting data on us. And since the value of services and platforms and, sadly, even products goes up as more people are using them, the arguments of "don…

Bullshit. People don't care. You don't even have to go so far as not to use certain applications. In this particular case, if people didn't buy iPhones en masse, we probably wouldn't be dealing with wireless headphones because neither Google nor Android phone manufacturers have cared to be innovators on the hardware end.

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

#394

Post by rchaud » Mon, Jul 27, 2020, 3:05 PM UTC

c3534l wrote: post #318

Can we all just take a step back and appreciate what a techno-dystopia we're living in that this is now a headline no one bats an eye about?

I certainly batted an eye. I bought my first pair of bluetooth headphones in 2012 and I am only now finding out that some require you to install an app to use. Absurd.

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

#395

Post by strogonoff » Mon, Jul 27, 2020, 3:50 PM UTC

andrewmackrodt wrote: post #363

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've owned the Sony WH-1000XM2 for several years and while the Android app location collection is unnecessary, ear data is entirely optional. You have a valid point that the app can misbehave regarding updates and lack of internet connection. I personally find myself never using the app, it only really provides 3 somewhat useful features; equalisation (which forces the audio codec to SBC which is inferior to LDAC so…

I immediately deleted Sony’s app after disabling EQ and probably some other gimmicks on my XM3s—has worked alright with Apple devices.

(Well, as ‘alright’ as could be expected. Switching between devices requires slow re-pairing through long power button press, but I don’t think Sony’s app would’ve resolved that.)

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

#396

Post by cactus2093 » Mon, Jul 27, 2020, 4:15 PM UTC

outadoc wrote: post #384

cactus2093 wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 w…

Your comment is funny to me because I have a pair of WH-1000XM3 and the one feature I'm missing the most is Bluetooth multi-point pairing. It's super easy to switch devices with the Bose (even though yeah, it can be finicky) meaning you don't have to re-pair your devices every time you want to listen to music on your phone, use them for a Slack call or for a TV show.

Re-pairing takes likes 2 seconds though when it works well, like with the airpods. It's just as fast as multi-point pairing without the downsides.

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

#397

Post by cjsawyer » Mon, Jul 27, 2020, 4:47 PM UTC

dylz wrote: post #296

cjsawyer wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the first gen, not the model II’s. It doesn’t have the button on the left side.

Even worse, on my QC35 II's, the hardware button defaulted to Google Assistant on Android, and I had to use the app anyway to set it to modify ANC on press.

At least that’s just a one time setup process.

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

#398

Post by therealdrag0 » Mon, Jul 27, 2020, 5:09 PM UTC

cactus2093 wrote: post #342

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 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 w…

I love this feature, but Mac is the bully in this situation. It captures the connection often even when nothing is playing and when Mac is asleep it still tries to connect and probably due to low power mode takes FOREVER for the phone to sync and realize what I actually want is to play audio from my phone not laptop...

I found this project which helps with the later problem: https://github.com/odlp/bluesnooze

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

#399

Post by oarsinsync » Mon, Jul 27, 2020, 5:41 PM UTC

pureliquidhw wrote: post #54

oarsinsync wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My QC35IIs have a button on the side to adjust noise cancelling. No need for an app.

I think you need the app to switch that to noise cancellation level from digital assistant activation.

I think it's the other way around - I'm reasonably sure it defaults to noise cancellation, and digital assistant is an option. I may also be wrong.

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

#400

Post by renewiltord » Mon, Jul 27, 2020, 5:46 PM UTC

arexxbifs wrote: post #378

renewiltord wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds like you do have a choice: spend more money. In a world where this wasn't allowed, presumably you'd be forced to spend more money. So you can inhabit that world right now if you want.

I’ve lived in a world similar to that. It was called the 1990s. It wasn’t particularly expensive, it wasn’t that hard to book hotels and, amazingly, people also got invited to parties and events. Also, your headphones didn’t spy on you.

This is how you know you were wealthy. Everything was so much more expensive then. I remember even trying to get maps or a digital marker for where you were required so much money. Noise canceling headphones? Forget about it.

And if you weren't in America with money, you could barely do anything online.

Hotels, air travel? So expensive. Way cheaper now. TVs? So cheap now. And where I lived you couldn't even book your own flights at the time. You needed a travel agent. Up costs. Nightmare.