It's been a tough couple of months for Sonos, to the point that CEO Patrick Spence now has a predefined auto response for customers who email you to talk about the redesigned app. But as the company works to right the ship, restore trust, and get the new Sonos Ace headphones off to a good start, it finds itself in the middle of yet another controversy.
As repair technician and consumer privacy advocate highlights Luis Rossmann, Sonos has made a significant change to its privacy policy, at least in the United States, with the removal of a key line. The updated policy no longer contains a sentence that previously said: “Sonos does not and will not sell personal information about our customers.” That promise is still present in other countries, but it is nowhere to be found in the updated US policy, which went into effect earlier this month.
Now some customers, already annoyed by the unstable performance of the new Sonos app, are ringing about what they consider another bad decision by the company's management. For them, it's been one unforced error after another from a brand they once recommended without hesitation.
Here is the relevant part of the “how we may share personal information” section of the privacy policy. what it was like in 2023:
Sonos does not and will not sell personal information about our customers. However, certain data practices described throughout this Privacy Statement may constitute a “sale” or “sharing” of data under the laws of California and/or other U.S. states. See CA Addendum below for more information applicable to CA residents. We want you to understand that information about our customers is an important part of our business. We only disclose your data as described in this Statement.
Certain data practices described throughout this Privacy Statement may constitute a “sale” or “sharing” of data under the laws of California and/or other US states. Please see the CA Addendum below for more information. information applicable to CA residents. We want you to understand that information about our customers is an important part of our business. We only disclose your data as described in this Statement.
The edge has contacted Sonos to clarify what this change means and whether the company now handles customer data differently than before. As part of its reworked app platform, Sonos Implemented web-based access. for all customer systems, giving the cloud an even greater role in the enterprise architecture. Unfortunately, the web app currently lacks any type of two-factor authentication, which has also irritated users; All you need is an email address and password to remotely control Sonos devices.
The app situation is gradually improving (alarms and sleep timers were recently restored), but contacting Sonos customer support can still take a long, long time after the full software overhaul.
