Bose, the high-end audio equipment manufacturer, is now facing a potential Class Action Lawsuit. The lawsuit was recently filed in a federal court in Chicago this week, which alleges that the company is illegally "listening in" and tapping into its customer's information using a number of its high-end headphone products.

Lawsuit details

The proposed class-action lawsuit that was filed this week involves a customer named Kyle Zak, who purchased a Bose Quiet Comfort 35 Bluetooth headset last month. The $350 headphone, equipped with noise cancellation technology and advanced features, is used with the company's own mobile app called "Bose Connect." The app allows users to remote control the functions of their headset using their mobile device.

Wiretapping allegations

According to the user, and as stated in the civil complaint, Bose has been allegedly found to collect several key information within the headphone user's listening habits. The data collected reportedly includes the names and titles of the music, podcast, and audio tracks being played through the device. This information is then tagged to the user's unique identifiable serial number and is apparently sold to third-party data firms such as the customer data platform, Segment.

Building a case

Edelson, the Chicago-based law firm that is building the class action lawsuit, claims that the data being collected constitutes wiretapping and is against the federal wiretap law. The company argues that the data collected can reveal a lot of personal information about the user based on his listening habits.

As an example, users who listed to controversial podcasts, or certain types of e-books can have that information used against them.

The firm, who claims to have done its investigation using their in-house computer forensics lab, also reveals that the data collecting practice also involves several other Bose products. The alleged products include the Sound Sport Pulse Wireless, the Quiet Control 30, the SoundLink Around-the-ear Wireless Headphones 2, the SoundLink Color 2, and the Sound Sport Wireless.

Proving the allegations

Edelson has a tough fight ahead of them as they have to prove to the court that the data being collected is the same type of content that is being mentioned in the federal law in question. The federal wiretap law states that the restricted content only includes "wire, oral, or electronic communication," which may not necessarily apply to audio metadata. Bose lawyers will likely be using that argument, but it is still probably too early to predict the court's decision in the matter.