A lawsuit claims that the company’s headphones pairing app, Bose Connect, is collecting user data.
Audio giant Bose is using its wireless headphones and speakers to spy on users and sell their private data to third party companies, a lawsuit claims.
As Fortune reports, Bose customer Kyle Zak filed a suit in Chicago on Tuesday (April 18) that alleges the Boston-based company designed its Bose Connect app – the mobile application that pairs smartphones with Bose’s high-end wireless speakers and headphones – to collect private data from users.
This data includes the names of the songs and any audio files users may have listened to. Bose is accused of sending the user information to a data mining company, which contravenes the Wiretap Act, the Illinois Eavesdropping Statute and a number of US state privacy laws.
According to the complaint, Bose created detailed profiles of customers’ listening histories and habits. The company then shared it with marketing companies, including a firm whose website promises to “collect all of your customer data and send it anywhere.”
The complaint states that listeners’ music, radio shows, podcast and lecture choices “reveal sensitive information about themselves that suggests their politics, religious views, thoughts, sentiments and emotions.” It then notes that a person’s audio history may contain files including LGBTQ+ podcasts or “Muslim prayer services.”
The lawsuit is demanding damages, but doesn’t specify how much. Zak is also seeking an injunction to prevent Bose from collecting and distributing data.
Bose told FACT in an email today that the company has no comment at this time.
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