Bose DeFenDs WiRetaP suit

A class-action lawsuit filed in the United States claims that Bose’s Connect app collects consumer data in a manner inconsistent with current US laws. The class-action suit, filed on behalf of plaintiff Kyle Zak, (Zak v. Bose Corp. et al., suit number 1:17-cv-02928, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois) claims that the Bose Connect app intercepts the content transmitted wirelessly from your mobile device to various Bose headphone models including the QuietComfort 35, SoundSport Wireless, Sound Sport Pulse Wireless, QuietControl 30, SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphones II, and SoundLink Colour II, and that Bose: ‘ fails to notify or warn customers that Bose Connect monitors and collects—in real time—the music and audio tracks played through their Bose Wireless Products. Nor does Bose disclose that it transmits the collected listening data to third parties,’ which he claims contravenes the Illinois Eavesdropping Statute and the Federal Wiretap Act.

Bose claims the communication involved is only between the app and compatible Bose headphones and that the app can’t access communications between a music app or smartphone and third-party streaming music providers and that the Wiretap Act doesn’t apply in any case because it only applies to communications between two separate parties, neither of which is the alleged interceptor. Further, Bose says the Wiretap Act also doesn’t apply because they don’t affect interstate or foreign commerce, which is required for something to be considered an electronic communication under the Act.