Bluetooth enables wireless listening. For more than one, apparently.

An article posted on Fortune.com describes yet another example of corporate intrusion around data collection. A lawsuit filed this week alleges that Bose monitors users’ listening habits via the Bose Connect app, then sells that information to third parties, without permission or knowledge. Charming.

This is just the latest in a string of similar line-crossings, all in the name of the much ballyhooed IoT. Connecting ‘things’ to the internet inevitably creates a byproduct of consumer data, and a lot of companies can’t resist scooping that up for themselves. But this is almost inexcusably idiotic and any decent marketing firm should advise them against doing this in no uncertain terms.

First off, the majority of users would probably allow them to collect the data if they were afforded an opt-in choice, particularly if they got some benefit like increased functionality. We grant incredible access to personal data to services like Facebook and Instagram with hardly a second thought. But more to the point, given the aggressive transparency empowered by the internet, this kind of shadiness will inevitably come out, revealing your brand’s shit-weaselly behavior.

And I’ve never seen a brand pyramid featuring the attribute ‘shit-weaselly.’