Bose Corporation, USA and its Indian subsidiary sell top end headphones and their products are considered premium worldwide.
But the company finds itself entangled in an unsavoury lawsuit relating to the privacy of its customers. Bose uses an app which facilitates capturing of the details of music listened to, by customers on their headphones. While this may be useful for Bose to know what kind of listening choices and preferences their individual customers may have, the lawsuit claims the company is passing on this information to third parties. And it is claimed that this is being done without the knowledge of and consent from the users/customers. The lawsuit has been filed in Chicago in the US on April 18, 2017.
It is the contention of the complainant in the case that the kind of information collected can reveal certain personal traits of the listeners and it will violate the federal Wire Tap Act as well as many clauses of laws applicable within the state because the information collected is the full audio history of the individuals.
The app referred to is Bose Connect App and it requires the individual to download and install and also provide personal details like name and contact details, phone number and email address. The individual who has filed the lawsuit has gone on to describe how the details of listening habits and the profiles supplied on the app are being shared with marketing companies, who in turn, can share it with whoever they want.
The product highlighted in the lawsuit is the QuietComfort 35 headphone, one of Bose’s most popular products even in India.
Apart from this, there are many other Bose products mentioned in the $5million lawsuit.
According to the lawyer who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Bose product user, Bose is guilty on two major counts:
One relates to the lack of transparency in taking the customers into confidence and letting them know that their personal data is being collected and shared. And there is the need to obtain approval of the customers to go ahead with such sharing of data.
The second aspect highlighted refers to the monetization of such information which is being described as an unjust enrichment by Bose. The suit has asked the court to direct Bose to stop the practice forthwith.