Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Bose Headphones Over Spying On Customers

In this day and age, privacy and security with digital information is becoming an increasingly important and increasingly difficult thing to have. As our digital world creeps more and more toward total connectivity, the potential for personal info to become compromised is a real risk in even the most unlikely places. Cue Bose.

This week, a proposed class-action lawsuit was filed against the audio behemoth. The law firm Edelson, representing plaintiff Kyle Zak, claims that the company had violated its privacy policy after registering his wireless headphones (QuiteComfort35) online.

Zak connected his headphones through the Bose Connect app, which like every other app promises “control and customization” for your devices. He provided the company with his name, email address, and the product’s serial number. However the lawsuit claims that the app has more nefarious purposes. Zak and Edelson allege that the Bose Connect app has been collection information that’s not covered by its privacy policy, including what music and audio tracks the user listens to.

While you could simply look at someone’s Spotify profile to find that information out, the potential for more sensitive information to be collected is there. For instance certain podcasts could give insight to a user’s political affiliation or more. The lawsuit goes even further to accuse Bose of sharing some of this information with the data-mining company Segment.io. While it remains unclear how Edelson came such a conclusion, or how Zak first discovered this breach of policy, this lawsuit will be sure to cause some bad publicity for one of audiophiles’ most trusted brands.

Affected products reportedly include: QuietComfort 35, SoundSport Wireless, Sound Sport Pulse Wireless, QuietControl 30, SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II, and SoundLink Color II.