Bose Spying On Customers? Lawsuit Says So
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- A class-action lawsuit has alleged that Bose is in violation of the U.S. Wiretap Act.
A claim has been made in the case of Zak v. Bose Corp that the company is using its products and companion Bose Connect app to secretly collect, transmit and disclose customers' private music and audio selections to third parties, including a data mining company.
While on the surface sharing your listening habits may appear to be harmless, Kyle Zak, who proposed the lawsuit, says that our musical preferences actually reveal a lot more information then we realize, for example, political leanings, sexual orientation and personalities, in general.
"Indeed, one's personal audio selections — including music, radio broadcast, Podcast, and lecture choices — provide an incredible amount of insight into his or her personality, behavior, political views, and personal identity," the lawsuit said. "In fact, numerous scientific studies show that musical preferences reflect explicit characteristics such as age, personality, and values, and can likely even be used to identify people with autism spectrum conditions. And that's just a small sampling of what can be learned from one's music preferences."
Zak said he discovered that Bose sent "all available media information" from his phone to third-party companies like Segment.io, whose website aims to "Collect all of your customer data and send it anywhere."
Filed on Tuesday, the lawsuit seeks monetary damages for buyers of Bose's QuietComfort 35, QuietControl 30, SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II, SoundLink Color II, SoundSport Wireless and SoundSport Pulse Wireless.