Live data from Hacker News

Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

fortune.com

131–140 of 215 posts

Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

#131
post #32

Reading 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.

And recently rogue sites have figured out a way to hijack Chrome notifications to show ads.

Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

#132
> According to the complaint, Bose ... shared it with ... Segment whose website offers to "collect all or your customer customer data and send it anywhere."

Using Segment as an example of an evil destination for data shows that this reporter is under-qualified to cover this story. I am not defending Bose here; just pointing out that the reporter doesn't exactly know the domain.

Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

#133
post #32

Reading 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.

Enable the tab mute button that's existed in chrome for years but is still hidden: Go to URL chrome://flags in a new tab Search for the ‘Enable tab audio muting UI control’ flag Hit the ‘Enable’ link Relaunch Chrome when prompted (on Chrome OS a full restart is required) Now you can click the little speaker that appears next to the tab's close button when a tab is playing sound to stop that tab from playing audio. Go…

I wish they also had "mute all other tabs."

Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

#134

Timely, considering I was just thinking about buying a Q35 tonight. (Oh who am I kidding, I'm probably still going to do it). I'm curious if anyone knows a way to temporarily disable/enable apps without having to uninstall them. Android used to have a "Disable" button in the App Manager, but my current 6.0.1 phone isn't showing that for any apps. Am I missing something?

I've got a Q35, I installed the app to set it up, but deleted it later, and have never been prompted again or anything, and everything works fine. So I think you can just delete it no problem.

I'm sure I could, but I would be missing out on the features I may want to occasionally use/change.

Bose is hardly the only app I would want to block. There are dozens of apps I might use only occasionally - a month or a year might go by between uses. But having to reinstall is just a cumbersome step.

Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

#135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also have two sets, they....were... awesome. I can't believe Bose would betray users trust like that when they're known for high quality products.

/Not sure if serious.

I'm not a fan of Bose stereo equipment, but QC35 headphones is excellent is basically every way.

Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

#136
Their example of 'shared it with marketing companies, including a San Francisco firm called Segment whose website offers to "collect all or your customer customer data and send it anywhere."'

Thats just an analytics provider.. I wonder if this claim is true, based on that example. Bose could just be collecting app logins, crashes, looking for usability pain-points, etc. Consulting agencies just throw that crap everywhere because it sounds good to a client.

Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Enable the tab mute button that's existed in chrome for years but is still hidden: Go to URL chrome://flags in a new tab Search for the ‘Enable tab audio muting UI control’ flag Hit the ‘Enable’ link Relaunch Chrome when prompted (on Chrome OS a full restart is required) Now you can click the little speaker that appears next to the tab's close button when a tab is playing sound to stop that tab from playing audio. Go…

I wish they also had "mute all other tabs."

Me too!

Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

#138
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The reason why I bought a bluetooth toothbrush was for a ranking system We are truly living in a modern fall of rome. We will choke on our bluetooth enabled toothbrushes, 700 dollar juicer machines, our fucking fitbits. We've ravaged the earth to adorn ourselves with decadent shackles and we will reap the consequences with fake tans and ultra clean teeth. In the past year I've gone from being an environmentalist to…

>reap the consequences with fake tans and ultra clean teeth. Fake tans are better than cancer and ultra clean teeth sounds like it would cut down on dental issues.

When you get a fake tan, how much of what chemicals is your body absorbing that all don't cause cancer?

Something like 70% of Americans are vitamin-D deficient. Get some damn sunlight.

Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> The reason why I bought a bluetooth toothbrush was for a ranking system We are truly living in a modern fall of rome. We will choke on our bluetooth enabled toothbrushes, 700 dollar juicer machines, our fucking fitbits. We've ravaged the earth to adorn ourselves with decadent shackles and we will reap the consequences with fake tans and ultra clean teeth. In the past year I've gone from being an environmentalist to…

  We are truly living in a modern fall of rome
What on earth does this have to do with the fall of Rome? Why do you think the empire fell?

Re: Bose Headphones Spy on Users, Lawsuit Says

#140
(Created an account to post this) I downloaded the app on android and listened to a few songs on Spotify to find out what information was being sent.

While the app is running, the app sends a HTTP (edit: HTTPS) request every time the track information changes or the volume changes. When the track information changes it sends the artist, album and song name. When you change the volume it sends the new volume level.

Every request includes standard meta-data such as

* An _anonymous-id_

* Device serial number

* Information about whether wifi or cellular are connected and carrier name

* Device name, model and manufacturer

If there is interest I will write a blog post about potential ways to stop the data collection without removing the app :)

Post reply on HN