Contributor I

Location mandatory

35 replies
1917 views

I need a way to use Sonos without giving location.

My local network is my local network and location is irrelevant so I don’t want this intrusion in to my business. I don’t want to have to report my whereabouts to the manufacturer of a piece of hardware I buy. The concept is frankly bizarre.

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melvimbe

Share is being used here as a synonym for sell. Depending on where you live, sonos’s use of share would meet the legal definition of sell. This is in the privacy policy.

I get that the legal definitions can vary, but I think most normal people see a big difference between selling and sharing. As well, there is a difference between specific user identified data, annoymous data, and data that’s been summarized into a statistic. For example, I don’t personally see much issue with letting an advertiser know that that particular Sonos radio station averages 1000 users a day for 1 hour in the general NYC area. I would have a problem if Sonos were to sell (for cash) my name, address, and purchase history to a 3rd party marketing company.

This is one of those topics where communication is pretty poor and people really have no idea what specifically you’re talking about when someone says Company X is selling your data. The language is vague, perhaps purposely, and people are forced to make blind assumptions rather than actually know what’s going on.

Danny

Bumper

Share is being used here as a synonym for sell. Depending on where you live, sonos’s use of share would meet the legal definition of sell. This is in the privacy policy.

I get that the legal definitions can vary, but I think most normal people see a big difference between selling and sharing. As well, there is a difference between specific user identified data, annoymous data, and data that’s been summarized into a statistic. For example, I don’t personally see much issue with letting an advertiser know that that particular Sonos radio station averages 1000 users a day for 1 hour in the general NYC area. I would have a problem if Sonos were to sell (for cash) my name, address, and purchase history to a 3rd party marketing company.

This is one of those topics where communication is pretty poor and people really have no idea what specifically you’re talking about when someone says Company X is selling your data. The language is vague, perhaps purposely, and people are forced to make blind assumptions rather than actually know what’s going on.

I linked a picture above where it makes it clearer what Sonos is selling and sharing. Some of this information wouldn’t be limited to Sonos Radio users.

I would have a problem if Sonos were to sell (for cash) my name, address, and purchase history to a 3rd party marketing company.

I don’t think they sell your purchase history, that’s not in the privacy policy. But they do sell a number of other identifiable information, like maybe not your address, but perhaps your precise location :) Kind of like what OP is concerned about :)))

LiamLucas

Contributor I

Thanks for the responses!

Thank you jgatie and Stanley_4 for directly answering the query seriously and making good points.

Thanks Rob_95 for the funniest and probably truest answer.👍

Yes I do realise that we live in surveillance capitalism society but it doesn’t mean I have to like it or accept it and I do what I can to avoid the worst of it.

But whereas there is a built in inevitability about location tracking for services like mobile phones and wi-fi, what is that for a set of speakers? What legitimate reason do Sonos have for needing to know your location?

Default local radio stations is a lame reason (it’s the worldwide web) and should never be mandatory.

So we’re left with geo-location eligibility for services - as jgatiie points out. But what ‘services’?

The only ‘service’ I want from speakers is to play the content fed to them. The services that provide that content are not Sonos. They are separate companies with whom I have sub of the day ukseparate contracts. So what Sonos services are we talking about here and why would anything Sonos does be geo-location dependent?

I have a Naim hi fi system with lovely Sonus Faber speakers.. That system plays content I feed to it in various ways. Vinyl, CD, I can even stream to it from any of my devices. Does that system want or need my location? Of course not.

Naim make high quality hi fi and Sonus Faber make high quality speakers. That’s it. What are Sonos doing exactly?

Sonos, like many tech companies, likely collects location data for various reasons, including marketing, product improvement, and potentially even regulatory compliance. While it may not seem immediately necessary for a speaker system, companies often gather data to tailor experiences or ensure they're meeting regional legal requirements. However, transparency and user control over such data collection practices are essential for maintaining trust and ensuring users feel comfortable with their devices.

In contrast, Naim's focus may be primarily on delivering exceptional audio quality and user experience without the need for extensive data collection. Each company operates with its own approach and priorities, and while Sonos may emphasize services or features that benefit from location data, Naim's focus appears to be on delivering premium audio experiences without relying on such information.

D

daboAuthor

Contributor I

So where did you find Sonos sells personal data?

Where did you find me saying that they did?

Read again. That isn’t the issue.

106rallye

@bumper mentions selling in his post directly above mine.

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