Sonos 2024 privacy policy change; Sonos can now sell your personal data

Yeah, this is utter bollocks. Shame on you Sonos. We have all been supporting you for a very long time and we pay top prices for our stuff. The fact that you might be moving this way is more than disgusting.

You need to come out and AGGRESSIVELY state that the old policy is in place and that you make money from selling speakers and services, NOT information. 

I don’t want to have to ditch all my stuff and go to an inferior alternative, this is really, really, really disappointing.

According to the USA Privacy Policy:

”If you have any questions about the use of your personal information, please send an email to privacy@sonos.com.”

Have you asked them direct, rather than on a user forum? My reading of the policy suggests there are times when they need to share some data. I don’t know about selling it though…

Q: ‘have you asked them directly?” Yes, Sonos hasn’t responded to me, nor apparently to this or any other forum, nor apparently to the reporter(s) who’ve covered the policy change. Plus, sharing of personal information to allow the app to interface with other services is much different than selling personal information…sharing has always been covered by the privacy policy. Selling is new.

I have purchased over 40 Sonos speakers since 2011 and have been with Sonos through plenty of software, firmware, and hardware headaches…I mean updates. After the 2024 app debacle and now this, I will never purchase another Sonos product….even with Sonos providing me multiple 30% ‘upgrade’ discounts for new speakers (I still have 5 discount credits). When people see my Sonos systems, I now tell them “don’t buy it”. Bye Sonos. You blew it. 

So their Privacy Policy gives a contact email, but they don’t answer emails to that email address? That is a concern, for sure. 
 

Has anyone else tried that email? Or have you only asked on the forums, which is not quite the same. 

This may explain why they had to remove a categorical reference to selling data - to be compliant with California laws:

“
How We May Share Personal Information

Certain data practices described throughout this Privacy Statement may constitute a “sale” or “sharing” of data under California and/or other US state laws. See the below CA Addendum for more information applicable to CA residents. We want you to understand that information about our customers is an important part of our business. We only disclose your data as described in this Statement. We may share information with the following types of third parties.

”

This statement as well as the fairly lengthy California addendum has been there in previous  versions. If this is just a compliance issue and they haven’t changed what they do hopefully they clear up any misunderstanding with a statement. 

Not surprising… This is the same company that “bricked” its old speakers and made its customers buy new ones.

Please share this story from MacRumors and the link to this page widely - people need to know and our voices need to be raised. I don’t want to abandon the 10’s of thousands of dollars I have invested in my Sonos system unless I have to, but if this is not rectified, I will go from being one of Sonos’ biggest boosters to one of their biggest detractors. Totally unacceptable, and extremely disappointing.

This is a deal breaker for me too.  I’ve got about 15 devices so thousands of dollars in Sonos gear.  It sounds great and works well enough.  But I don’t want my stereo to be leaking information about my TV or Music preferences.

SONOS, keep your eye on the ball.  Your gear sounds great -- compete on that basis.  Don’t stoop to customer exploitation just because everyone else does it.

Sonos privacy was one of the reasons I bought their speaker over others.  I felt it put them above the other hardware+service companies.  Now they have brought themselves down to “level the playing field”, in an unfavorable way, and this will strongly influence my decision to buy another or recommend their speakers to others.  I have a lot of suppliers to choose from who I know collect & sell my information.