Bose headphones are basically a spyware on your head | Hacker News Reader

Bose headphones are basically a spyware on your head

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104 pointsClassicaldj349 comments

Yikes, this is really bad timing for Bose to get all this negative publicity.

Christmas shopping is coming and I sitting on the fence regarding new headphones, but I'm really unlikely to buy Bose now.

Sony makes the best noise cancelling headphones/earphones now anyway. (assuming noise cancellation is important to you)

I would never, ever buy a Bose product.

Apparently the app uploads every single thing it can get access to, and you have to install the app even to (!) turn noise canceling on and off.

*if you use their app.

You don't have to use their app for day-to-day usage via Bluetooth, however, they make it impossible to initially setup noise canceling functionality without the app.

I'm extremely grateful that the Bluetooth protocol is broken up into specific functions, so I know that if I connect my headphones/car/etc. via bt audio it can't also send data to the cloud through my phone.

I never used the app and the button to cycle noise cancelling through off/high/low works just fine. What am I missing?

Most don't have that button.

This is only on v2. v1 can't do this otherwise.

Not sure I’d be so trusting. “Bluetooth offers so many options for deployment that developers don't necessarily have full mastery of the available choices, which can result in faulty implementations. “ from Bluetooth's Complexity Has Become a Security Risk [0, 1]

And now we’ve got folks discussing “Using Web Bluetooth to communicate with Bluetooth devices” [2, 3].

[0] https://www.wired.com/story/bluetooth-complex-security-risk/ [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19956512 [2] https://www.balena.io/blog/using-web-bluetooth-to-communicat... [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21332283

Well, guess I need to destroy my Bose headphones now...

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