Published
Thu, Apr 20, 2017, 14:18
- The US-based company is accused of passing customer information from its Bose Connect app to third-party firms without permission.
Bose is being sued for allegedly passing on data collected from users of its wireless headphones.
The Massachusetts-based audio technology firm is accused of selling private information—stored on its Bose Connect app—onto third party firms without consent. The lawsuit was initiated by Kyle Zak, who filed a complaint to a federal court in Chicago on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
"People put headphones on their head because they think it's private," said Christopher Dore, Zak's lawyer, "but they can be giving out information they don't want to share." Zak is seeking $5 million (£3.9 million) in damages from Bose, says the BBC. The lawsuit also wants an injunction against the firm's continued collection of data. The suite of Bose products named in the lawsuit include: QuietComfort 35, QuietControl 30, SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II, SoundLink Color II, SoundSport Wireless and SoundSport Pulse Wireless.
Zak argues that the app logs user information, including the type of music they listen to, in a way that builds up "an incredible amount of insight" about Bose customers. The complaint gives the example of a user who listens to Muslim prayers as someone who would be identified as "very likely" to be of that faith.
Resident Advisor has contacted Bose for comment.