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Sonos Says Users Must Accept New Privacy Policy Or Devices May Cease To Function (zdnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the privacy-woes dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Sonos has confirmed that existing customers will not be given an option to opt out of its new privacy policy, leaving customers with sound systems that may eventually "cease to function". It comes as the home sound system maker prepares to begin collecting audio settings, error data, and other account data before the launch of its smart speaker integration in the near future. A spokesperson for the home sound system maker told ZDNet that, "if a customer chooses not to acknowledge the privacy statement, the customer will not be able to update the software on their Sonos system, and over time the functionality of the product will decrease. The customer can choose to acknowledge the policy, or can accept that over time their product may cease to function."

9 of 346 comments (clear)

  1. Fuckers by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is there any law to take companies that pull this kind of stunt to court and sue the pants of them?

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    #DeleteFacebook
    1. Re:Fuckers by Mashiki · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Depends on the country. In Canada, this is right up illegal under privacy laws(federal and provincial), and modifying a product to degrade it after purchase(consumer protection laws), or changing/modifying a product that doesn't represent actual advertised claims(consumer protection laws).

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      Om, nomnomnom...
    2. Re:Fuckers by Nidi62 · · Score: 5, Funny

      When people keep altering the terms of an agreement you only have 2 options: pray they don't alter them further, or blow up their death star.

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      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    3. Re:Fuckers by jonnyj · · Score: 5, Informative

      In the UK, there almost certainly is a law to protect consumers. Under the Consumer Rights Act, consumers have a legal right to reject goods that are of unsatisfactory quality, unfit for purpose or not as described, and get a full refund.

      If the manufacturer of a sound system has stated that its devices may eventually cease to function, I find it hard to imagine that a court would find that it was as described when sold.

    4. Re:Fuckers by rl117 · · Score: 5, Informative

      You can't waive statutory rights; you have them irrespective of any contract, and it's illegal for a company to ignore them.

    5. Re: Fuckers by rl117 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Maybe in the USA. I was referring to UK law, where statutory rights can not be removed by contract law.

  2. These are not the terms I agreed to! by bobbied · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I am altering the deal, pray I don't alter it further!

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  3. Unfettered capitalism at work by Baron_Yam · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Unfettered capitalism is ultimately only slightly better for society than unfettered communism. Large corporations can act as a single entity, while consumers are sufficiently segmented that in most cases coordination is unlikely.

    The response is to change the market via legislation, and let the companies adapt to the new reality, rather than attempt boycotting them. A boycott - even if successful - only ensures they get sneakier about future attempts at the same goal.

  4. Re: Plug the digital hole. by Miamicanes · · Score: 5, Interesting

    > 90s-early 00s era recievers are still probably the best,
    > unless you need more than 5.1 or 7.1 sound.

    Actually, their ability to do even 5.1 surround is likely to diminish over time:

    * Dolby designed DD+7.1 to be easy to downconvert to 5.1, but few/no receivers that ONLY know how to handle DD5.1 can do it.

    * Few AVRs made prior to ~2012 (and basically NONE prior to ~2009) can do 5.1 PCM, let alone 7.1 PCM.

    * Toslink & coaxial SPDIF can't do PCM 5.1 on consumer gear (there IS a way to kludge it with pro audio mixing gear, but it's either forbidden by licence terms or too expensive/niche for AVR manufacturers to use in consumer gear.

    * The only real way to get PCM 5.1/7.1 into your AVR is via HDMI... but there's lots of gear made prior to ~2014 that can SWITCH HDMI, but can't actually decode 5.1 or 7.1 AUDIO from HDMI. And plenty that are supposed to, but fucked up their implementation or firmware (e.g, EDID spofing of downstream sinks to keep the source from seeing a PCM2.0(stereo) sink & falling back to PCM2.0 for EVERYTHING (HDMI makes no provision for sending multiple audio streams, so it's up to the AVR to hide the PCM2.0-ness of downstream TVs from upstream sources).

    I'm aware of EXACTLY ONE box that can successfully extract 5.1 or 7.1 PCM from HDMI and output it as analog 5.1 or 5.7... and it costs almost as much as a cheap DD+ capable AVR (it's basically a 1-watt amp with a single HDMI input & four 1/8" stereo jack outputs they pretend are 'for headphones' to dance around DRM restrictions... and I'm not 100% confident it can downmix 7.1 to 5.1, so if you're watching a source that supports ONLY DD+7.1 (like Netflix on Roku) & have a 5.1 amp, you're still fucked.

    So... you can forget about having surround sound from most HDMI-only streaming clients (like Roku), any recent Nintendo gear (Wii-u & Switch), and probably MOST post-2009 & future Blu-Ray & DVD players and cable boxes (even if the player has SPDIF outputs, if the studio masters the disc with ONLY PCM 7.1, no post-2009 player I'm aware of can/will re-encode it as DD5.1 or DD+7.1 and output it via SPDIF... all you'll get is flat 2.0 stereo).

    The thing that sucks the worst is that the lack of PCM5.1/7.1-via-HDMI to analog or re-encoded DD-via-SPDIF is entirely due to DRM. As if being able to record the analog 5.1 surround sound from a movie whose video I can't capture is going to make even the SLIGHTEST fucking difference to studios' bottom lines.