terms of use

Do you own a cellphone?

They are not spying on you now any more than they were before. You do realise you are twisting it to suit your own misunderstanding? What precisely are you worried will happen as a result of any change in policy that isn't already happening every time you open any website on your search engine? Have you written to the hundreds of websites and all your subscription services to request they do not share any of your data? You’ve only dropped Sonos a line because it has been brought to your attention. It’s like sealing a crack in your front door frame when the front door itself is missing...

Aside from a mobile phone, is there any other official Sonos method for operation? Yes I have a mobile phone.

I think you are misunderstanding. There are many ways to prevent being spied on. I have them in place on my system critical computers and many in place on other computers here.

If you are so happy to share your data, how about sending us your email address, physical address, phone number and while we’re at it, you SS number? How about any links to web cams in your home? No, please do not. Europe has in place things to avoid this type of intrusion and several US states now have laws in place.

This is not a discussion about whether we are alright with everyone’s personal data, this is a discussion about the handling of my personal data. I do not wish for it to be sold.

Of interest, at least this website allows you to accept or deny cookies. Why can’t the app have accept or deny sharing my data?

If you have a mobile phone, you hold in your pocket a device which tracks your every movement, listens to every conversation, tracks every website you visit, every app usage, every purchase, every text, every search you make, every email, every smart home command . . . almost every aspect of your life, and does this most times without detailing what it does and doesn’t track in the Privacy Statement for the apps and/or OS it operates.  A privacy statement which, mind you, 99% of the users never even read.

On the other hand, Sonos states very clearly what it does and doesn’t do, and as stated above, there was no change in the policy as to what it is collecting and how it is shared/sold, only in the wording to comply with two states’ laws whose strict interpretation does not allow for the former blanket statement (Note: the language is still there outside of the US).  

So tell me, why are you so perturbed by Sonos’ “spyware” (which isn’t really spyware if they tell you what they are doing), and whose terms you’ve willingly agreed to several times in the past, but you don’t seem the least bit concerned about a phone and it’s apps where (quite literally) “You (meaning your data) are the product.”?

Sonos has my name, email address, details of my speakers, streaming services, listening choices.  It doesn’t have my DOB, address or phone number. So good luck to them telling 137 partners that I listened to Seal earlier today. Anyone with my data from Sonos, if it’s of interest to them, can cross reference this with my details on other sites who have sold my data to ascertain the rest of the info about me.

I don’t wish for my data to be sold but as @jgatie rightly said earlier, your data is already out there. No letter to Sonos will make a material difference. If you can tell me that you have not recently been on a website and had a contextual ad served to you that related to a search or personal interest then you must be the only person in the world to have secured your data so tightly. 

I have set up my phone so that most tracking never happens. I do not use location services. Yes, I know tower info can be tracked. The big providers just got busted for doing this without disclosure.

Yes, phones are the least secure tech device you can own. I do very little with and have limited apps on my phone because of this. Banking… never. Autopay…. absolutely never. Gmail, where your email is read to collect data to sell to advertisers. What do they do with your email account login information if it is sent to your gmail account? What do they do when your new bank login info is sent to your gmail account? I have a client who is really intelligent, who wired money to a wrong account because the salesman of the product had his gmail account hacked. The hacker sat back and waiting, clearly reading the conversation, waiting for a 10K sale to go through and then quickly edited things. Made personal comments which made is seem very real… and then sent it from that account as a revised invoice because the original was flawed. I can’t go into more. I was the one who reviewed the mail logs to know that the email did positively come trom gmail using that salesman’s account.

The bottom line is just because many companies do this, it does not mean it is alright. It is not alright with me. This was not the situation when I purchased Sonos equipment. This is hog ringing.

Ahh, the old “Just because other companies I use do it much worse, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t excoriate the one I’m pissed off at now because some website and/or poster brought it to my attention” defense.  Otherwise known as rampant hypocrisy. 

By the way, when did you purchase Sonos?  Because they have publicly stated that there are no changes to the data collected, that the changes to the wording were to accommodate the stricter interpretations of the laws in a couple states.  They are on public record for this, and would be held liable by the FTC if it were untrue (and a quick diff of the older and newer Privacy Policies shows it to be 100% true).  So why did you agree to this “hog ringing” before and are just coming to protest it now? 

I do not remember how many years ago it was. The first was the basic Sonos speaker. I think it was Sonos 1. Very little else existed at the time other than very expensive whole home systems.

I am very happy you are content with your data being sold. Perhaps Sonos will make enough money from this to make improvements to their App?

Me, I don’t wish to have my data sold. End of story. I simply wish to opt out. I am reporting my experience with that process. This isn’t to be an argument about anything else. Simply one App, with one option.

Doesn’t matter how long ago you started, you would have been required to agree to the Terms of Use everytime it is updated.  The only way you would have a case would be if you bought Sonos since the last time it changed this very month.

So now that we got that established, your answer would be a “Yes” that you agreed to it before and are just complaining about it now, even though nothing has changed.  Do you realize you’ve been manipulated by whatever YouTube video, website, or posting bought you here?