Bose Corp spies on its wireless headphone customers by using an app that tracks the music, podcasts and other audio they listen to, and violates their privacy rights by selling the information without permission, a lawsuit charged.
The complaint filed on Tuesday by Kyle Zak in federal court in Chicago seeks an injunction to stop Bose’s “wholesale disregard” for the privacy of customers who download its free Bose Connect app from Apple Inc. or Google Play stores to their smartphones.
“People should be uncomfortable with it,” Christopher Dore, a lawyer representing Mr. Zak, said in an interview. “People put headphones on their head because they think it’s private, but they can be giving out information they don’t want to share.”
Bose did not respond on Wednesday to requests for comment on the proposed class action case. The Massachusetts-based company has said annual sales top $3.5 billion. Mr. Zak’s lawsuit was the latest to accuse companies of trying to boost profit by quietly amassing customer information, and then selling it or using it to solicit more business.
After paying $350 for his QuietComfort 35 headphones, Mr. Zak said he took Bose’s suggestion to “get the most out of your headphones” by downloading its app, and providing his name, email address and headphone serial number in the process.
But Mr. Zak said he was surprised to learn that Bose sent “all available media information” from his smartphone to third parties such as Segment.io.
