WTF Bose "horrific act is an affront to humanity..." Me thinks Bose "has crossed many Red Lines..." BOYCOTT BOSE !! (unless you have a few spare Tomahawks - [TLAMs] - laying around.) Gratifying to see this lawsuit -- someone standing up and taking a step to push back against the groundswell of egregious privacy invasions by corporations. Draw a line in the sand around the Bose display at your local brick and mortar store.
Zak v Bose Corp, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, No. 17-02928. Complaint against Bose: https://consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/bosecomplaint.pdf
Throw the book at 'em: From Complaint in Zak v Bose Corp, U.S. District Court FIRST CAUSE OF ACTION Violation of the Federal Wiretap Act 18 U.S.C. § 2510 et seq. (On behalf of Plaintiff and the Class) SECOND CAUSE OF ACTION Violation of the Illinois Eavesdropping Statute 720 ILCS 5/14-1 et seq. (On behalf of Plaintiff and the Illinois Subclass) THIRD CAUSE OF ACTION Intrusion Upon Seclusion (On behalf of Plaintiff and the Illinois Subclass) FOURTH CAUSE OF ACTION Violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practice Act 815 ILCS 505/1 et seq. (On behalf of Plaintiff and the Illinois Subclass) FIFTH CAUSE OF ACTION Unjust Enrichment (On behalf of Plaintiff and the Class) "Surf The Friendly Sounds Waves of Bose -- We won't "bump" you off our App cuz we want all y'all's personal data we can sell." .
I hope Bose looses the case and that the judgement can also be applied to all internet enabled manufactured products, especially consumer appliances. I know that companies will say they will advertise the product as internet enabled so when the consumer purchases the product, they will be aware of this and are therefore giving permission for the data gathering/sending/using. That is not enough though, especially if they outline the handling of the data (profiting) on the customer agreement statement because you will not know this until you get the product home and open the box.
Yet how many people, once informed, are gonna throw out their expensive Bose doo-dads just cuz of this? Momentary outrage, then a strange apathy once again settles, like a blanket of dust. oops, had to edit, sorry.
Well, they know who you are, what you listen to, when you listen to it, and maybe ambient sound when the headphones aren't in use. That's not something headphones need to be doing, should be doing. It's creepy to see the spy-everything-possible mindset creep from smartphones to IoT generally. Like "Sure, your keyboard reports all keystrokes to us, but that's just for quality assurance, and we store it all anonymized, and would never share the data."
I don't thinks the head phones as much as the app that's the problem. Do you really need an app for that?
Right, it's the app. The app apparently does do some cool things. But they could have implemented them without the spying.
Yes, the app. But can you use that expensive audio gear without the app? I mean, I don't know. And some might think it's also in the gear itself. Wonder how this will impact future sales. Maybe Bose is hopeful the public will forget and move on, like with so many other things.
It seems that Bose suggests to "get the most out of your headphones" by downloading its app. Probably many consumers might take that suggestion. Zak's lawyer (Dore) said customers of Bose do not see any app's user service and privacy agreements upon signing up and the privacy agreement says nothing about data collection. Somewhat confused with Dores statement since if you don't see any privacy agreements how would one know that the privacy agreement say nothing about data collection?
"...n 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. The confusion may result from the fact that Dore is not directly quoted as saying that. The story says Dore says. You know the old game of telephone and how spoken words get mished mashed as they are passed along. The Complaint does not mention any privacy agreements. It claims: "...Defendant Designed the Bose Connect App to Secretly Collect Consumers’ Usage Data 18. As described above, customers must download and install Bose Connect to take advantage of the Bose Wireless Products’ features and functions. Yet, Bose fails to notify or warn customers that Bose Connect monitors and collects—in real time—the music and audio tracks played through their Bose Wireless Products. Nor does Bose disclose that it transmits the collected listening data to third parties..." Bose statement is suspect to say the least. The law firm representing the Plaintiff (and likely a class) is a mid - sized Chicago boutique law firm that has established itself as a pioneering law firm in plaintiffs' class and mass action litigation, with a special emphasis on technology and privacy cases. Many of its lawyers have technical and communications college degrees. They claim on their website to have collected/settled privacy actions against some big players worth a total of $1BIL USD. https://edelson.com/ It seems to me highly unlikely that this firm would stake it's reputation on what Bose claims to be a bogus case.
Bose states: "...we don’t sell your information, and we don’t use anything we collect to identify you – or anyone else..." What does Bose define to be "your information?" Bose says that "we don't use anything we collect..." BUT The plaintiffs claim that the app is "intentionally designed and programmed to automatically disclose and transmit It's customers Media Information to third party companies including a data miner called Segment, Inc..." So, if the allegations are true, in a way Bose doesn't "touch " the data, i.e. doesn't itself "use" the data, that is transmitted directly to 3rd parties, ergo Bose's potential, weasely statement that "we don't use anything we collect to identify you.." I would be surprised if this law firm just pulled the stuff about directly transmitting to Segment out of it's whatever. Note also that when customers download the app, they are encouraged to register which requires a name, serial number (I assume of their headset) and an email address. Bose uses the offering of updates, among other things, as an inducement to register.
It's a long read if you or anyone else here at Wilders is interested. NOTE: Under Privacy Preferences https://www.bose.com/en_us/support/policies.html