A class action was filed against Bose which alleges that Bose “Unbeknownst to its customers, however, Defendant designed Bose Connect to (i) collect and record the titles of the music and audio files its customers choose to play through their Bose wireless products and (ii) transmit such data along with other personal identifiers to third-parties—including a data miner—without its customers’ knowledge or consent.” Further the plaintiff states that one’s personal audio selections “provide an incredible amount of insight into his or her personality, behavior, political views, and personal identity.”  The April 18, 2017 case Kyle Zak et al v. Bose Corp. filed in the Northern District of Illinois includes claims that apply to Bose’s “QuietComfort 35, SoundSport Wireless, Sound Sport Pulse Wireless, QuietControl 30, SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II, and SoundLink Color II (“Bose Wireless Products”)” in which Zak claims that:

None of Defendant’s customers could have ever anticipated that these types of music and audio selections would be recorded and sent to, of all people, a third party data miner for analysis.

Bose posted these comments in response to the lawsuit:

Nothing is more important to us than your trust. We work tirelessly to earn and keep it, and have for over 50 years. That’s never changed, and never will. In the Bose Connect App, we don’t wiretap your communications, we don’t sell your information, and we don’t use anything we collect to identify you – or anyone else – by name.

This will be an important privacy case to follow!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *