File photo: ose wireless headphones are pictured in Encinitas, California, United States in this April 19, 2017 photo illustration. (REUTERS/Mike Blake)
If the accusations in a new lawsuit are true, premium headphone maker Bose could be using its Bose Connect mobile app to monitor what you listen to and then sell that data to third parties.
According to a Reuters story, the lawsuit, filed on Tuesday (April 18) by a Kyle Zak in federal court in Chicago, aims to stop what it calls a "wholesale disregard" for customer privacy. After registering with the app, Zak had learned that Bose sends "all available media information" from smartphones to third-party sites such as Segment.io, a firm dedicated to collecting and distributing customer data.
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The lawsuit leans on how this technology could be used to provide alarming amounts of insight about users. One included example was that anyone listening to Muslim prayers is "very likely" to be a follower of the Islamic faith.
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The Connect app is used for adjusting noise-cancellation rates on the QC35 headphones, and switching connections between different Bose products. The app also allows you to share sound between two pairs of the company's headphones or its SoundLink Revolve speakers.
Tom's Guide has reached out to Bose for comment and will update this story when we receive a reply.
What to do now
Until we learn more, we'd recommend that privacy-minded users uninstall the Bose Connect app. You can still pair your devices without it; you'll just miss out on some secondary special features.
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