Headphones
Bose is one of the largest smart device manufacturers in the world. The same company is constantly expanding its ecosystem of “Internet of things”. Such devices and services are all good, the only thing – they are vulnerable to hacking. For example, the same botnet Mirai uses smart gadgets to build its network. But in this case we are talking about cybercriminals. And can it be that the smart device manufacturer decides to spy on its own users? At first glance, the idea is quite ridiculous. But, as it turned out, everything is possible in this world.
In the US, one of the users of smart headphones produced by Bose accuses the company of illegally receiving information on the audio recordings of its users that they are listening to, it is, in fact, a matter of constant monitoring. Plaintiff Kyle Zack claims that the company illegally obtains personal data from users using the Bose Connect application. It must be installed in order to be able to control the functions of wireless devices from Bose. Everything would be fine, but this application, as Zack says, also has undocumented functions, namely, sending user data to the company’s servers.
As already mentioned, we are talking about audio materials that the user listens to. According to the plaintiff, they can be used to identify the interests of a person who, for some time, uses headphones. “For example, a person who listens to Muslim prayers is highly likely to be a Muslim. A person who listens to audiobooks, where the topic of sexual minorities is affected, most likely belongs to one of them, and one who listens to medical materials about HIV is most likely either sick or working in the medical field. None of the defendant’s customers could have imagined that these data could be recorded and sent to a third party for analysis, “the statement of claim says.
The plaintiff states that in addition to audio, Bose also collects registration data of its users, including the serial numbers of the devices. And then, using this information already, the company monitors in real time what is listening or not listening to this or that person. Moreover, private data Bose sends more and such companies as Segment.io, working with advertising agencies of doubtful persuasion. As for the devices that are being monitored, these are the headphones QuietComfort 35, SoundSport Wireless, SoundSport Pulse Wireless, QuietControl 30, SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II, and SoundLink Color II.
Zak asserts that the company Began to monitor their customers, beginning in 2016. Then a new feature was introduced, which allowed users to manage their devices remotely using smartphones. For this, the Bose Connect application is available, which can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play.
According to the plaintiff, Bose uses this software to continuously collect data that is sent to smart devices from smartphones and other devices,
While it is not known how truthful the information presented by the plaintiff is, but remembering how much cyber espionage is now developed, there is nothing incredible in this case. The users conduct (or conducted) surveillance of Vizio, Samsung, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo (meaning different cases with intentional or accidental collection of information about their users) organizations like the CIA, the NSA, law enforcement agencies of different countries.
The plaintiff did not study the Bose software himself, but with the help of the Edelson law firm, which specializes in technologies and cases of violation of the human right to privacy. Now the company and the plaintiff will have to show the court exactly how the software from Bose, responsible for espionage, works.
Probably, lawyers of Bose will prove in court the company’s innocence, explaining what happened by transferring data of unprivileged nature to the company’s servers, including information about the author of the tune being listened to, the title of the composition, etc. Lawyers Edelson, in turn, are confident that not only the metadata of the melody, but also the user’s private data, as well as fragments of the tune being listened, are transmitted to the Bose server.
