Can I have some respect, Sonos?

by Volker Weber

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Sonos, if I ask you to not collect information, I expect you to not collect information. Understood?

Comments

Sonos:

"Dear Volker, we greatly appreciate your valued input into our continuous service delivery process. In assessing servicability of your fantastic Sonos hyper-device, we continue to steadily improve your unique media cussumption experience.

Your history with us is one of our greatest ass-ets, one which we appreciate by shoving a bit of public domain music up your hindquarters.

We are looking forward to a continued, long-lasting mutual experience of data sharing, errm, joy."

TL;DR - "we don't care; you are the digital data cow (muh-kuh)". Anybody remember BSE (spongiform encephalopathy)?

Stefan Hoffmeister, 2018-07-16

Took you long enough, Volker :)

Noticed (and reported it in the comments) this behavior last monthn when you posted https://vowe.net/archives/017174.html

Daniel Meyer, 2018-07-17

Ist das auch Pi hole oder hast Du den Raspi auch noch als firewall konfiguriert?

Axel Koerv, 2018-07-17

Nur Pi-hole.

Volker Weber, 2018-07-17

From my perspective (and I guess from Sonos' perspective as well), the term "usage data" does not necessary include data which the system sends for instance to check if your system should be updated to the latest version (which is quite often the case as every Sonos user knows).

As you have - at least I assume so as you're still using the system - accepted Sonos' recent privacy policy update, which has been presented not so long ago (see https://blog.sonos.com/en/sonos-privacy/ and the links included in their blog article), you may have read which data they collect before accepting the updated privacy policy.

For more info, see https://www.sonos.com/en-us/legal/privacy#faq and thereunder "Can I opt out of sharing my information to Sonos?": "Yes, you can opt out of submitting certain types of personal information to Sonos; for instance, additional usage data such as performance and activity information. However, certain categories of the data that we collect, referred to as functional data, are necessary for your Sonos product to perform its basic functions in a secure way and you will not be able to opt out. For more information, visit How to Access and Control Your Personal Information."

A different question is how Sonos more or less forces their users to accept the updated privacy policy, as you do not have a chance to opt out, unless you want to quit using the system. This Sonos forum article partly deals with that question: https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/sonos-strongarm-tactics-6790348

Additional information (in German), with PiHole being one of the solution approaches, can be found at esse est percipi: https://www.qxm.de/digitalewelt/3026/wie-man-seine-privatsphaere-vor-sonos-schuetzt

Hope this information is helpful for some of you!

Thore Bosk, 2018-07-17

"However, certain categories of the data that we collect, referred to as functional data, are necessary for your Sonos product to perform its basic functions in a secure way and you will not be able to opt out."

Unless you install Pi-hole. After which my Sonos product continues to work.

Volker Weber, 2018-07-17

Tja, so sieht's aus, Jungs. Selbst wenn's was kostet, seid ihr das Produkt, nicht der Kunde.

Vielleicht doch wieder Opas Kofferradio rausholen.

Kristof Doffing, 2018-07-17

Nachtrag @Volker: Das ist wohl nur eine Frage der Zeit ;-)

Kristof Doffing, 2018-07-17

Wenn man im Pi-Hole die msmetrics.ws.sonos.com Adresse blockiert, funktioniert dann die Steuerung über Spotify oder Alexa noch?

Patrick Bohr, 2018-07-17

Ja, funktioniert.

Volker Weber, 2018-07-17

Raspi 3 Komplettset ist bestellt. Hello command line, looking forward to seeing you again :-).

Axel Koerv, 2018-07-17

The time will come when blocking specific DNS queries from/for the system will make the product stop basic operation; it's trivial to do, and the Pi-Hole trick is cute, but I don't consider it a *solution*. (Quite apart from the common Sonos customer understandably not really being the type to want to set up, configure, and operate some tricky DNS/DHCP service?)

These companies need to be told that we don't want that. Period. No exceptions. I told them I'd drop their equiment the moment they force me to sign up for an account to "improve my experience".

Unfortunately, we're probably neither able nor prepared to dump the expensive equipment on their door step and tell them to put it somewhere safe until the spying stops.

Jan-Piet Mens, 2018-07-17

@Thore - I would be curious to know what "functional", "non-usage" data Sonos is sending to ssl.google-analytics.com.

Erik Brooks, 2018-07-18

Old vowe.net archive pages

I explain difficult concepts in simple ways. For free, and for money. Clue procurement and bullshit detection.

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