Lawsuit claims Bose Connect app collects users listening data

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These days it’s data that makes the world go around and companies want your data. A lawsuit out of our home city of Chicago claims the Bose Connect app is collecting data it shouldn’t. We should be clear here, as many others are reporting that it’s Bose headphones spying on you. You’re most likely safe when using your Bose headphones. It’s the Bose Connect app that this lawsuit focuses on. The app is not needed to use any Bose product but it is an option for users to tweak their products. The lawsuit was filed yesterday by Kyle Zak in a Chicago federal court and alleges the app tracks users music, podcasts, and other audio then sells that information.

“People should be uncomfortable with it,” Christopher Dore, a lawyer representing Zak, said in an interview. “People put headphones on their head because they think it’s private, but they can be giving out information they don’t want to share.”

Zak had purchased a pair of QuietComfort 35 headphones and downloaded the Bose Connect app on Bose’s suggestion. The app does ask for the user’s name, email, and headphone serial number. Zak soon did some digging and found that the app sent “all available information” from his phone to third parties such as Segment.io, a company who sells user data. Zak’s complaint alleges that this data gives Bose the ability to profile their customers based on their media choices.

Zak is seeking millions of dollars of damages for buyers of headphones and speakers, including QuietComfort 35, QuietControl 30, SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II, SoundLink Color II, SoundSport Wireless and SoundSport Pulse Wireless.

He also wants a halt to the data collection, which he said violates the federal Wiretap Act and Illinois laws against eavesdropping and consumer fraud.

We’ve reviewed the Bose QC35’s and found them to be fantastic noise-cancelling headphones, but if these allegations about the Bose Connect app are true, that could hurt the Bose brand.

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[button link=”http://in.reuters.com/article/bose-lawsuit-idINKBN17L2DX” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Reuters[/button]
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