This Privacy Policy describes and covers our collection and usage of your personal information to provide you with the basic function of this application. Please read this Policy carefully before you agree to this Policy to start using this application. |
Effective Date: This Privacy Policy was revised and is effective as of May 19, 2022.
This Privacy Policy applies to “Sony | Headphones Connect” (the “Headphones Connect”) and “Sony | 360 Spatial Sound Personalizer” (the “360 Spatial Sound Personalizer”) (collectively, the “Application(s)”). This Privacy Policy explains our collection, use, sharing and other practices regarding your data when you use each Application. Headphones Connect is a mobile application dedicated to wireless headphones from SONY, and it allows you to customize the sound from your headphones according to your preference.
360 Spatial Sound Personalizer is a mobile application that allows you to enjoy personalized 360 Reality Audio settings on compatible Sony products by using the camera of your mobile device.
In this Privacy Policy, we use “SONY,” "we," "us," and "our" to refer to Sony Corporation. “SONY Affiliates” shall mean Sony Group Corporation, which is the ultimate parent company of SONY and any legal entities controlled by Sony Group Corporation which may be located in countries/regions outside your country/region of residence.The term “control” in this context means the direct or indirect ownership of at least fifty percent (50%) of the voting interest in such corporation or the power in fact to control the management decisions of such entity. “SONY China” shall mean our local operating SONY Affiliates. This Privacy Policy only applies to the Applications and is in addition to any other privacy policy that may apply to your interactions with SONY and SONY Affiliates or any third party, regarding their product, software or service.
SONY collects and uses information or data as described below. Some of this information may be considered personal information under applicable law in your jurisdiction, and it is collected when you choose to provide information to us or automatically when you use the Application.
If you decide to activate certain services, such as the Backup and restoration of settings service described in section 4. (A) (i) , you will be required to create a SHES Account.
In order to create an SHES Account, you will first need to provide sign in authentication via a Sony account (SHES Cloud service).
More information about the data we collect in connection with each authentication method is below. We use cookies, activation codes and/or tokens as necessary for us to provide you SHES Account service or to link your device to a service.
When you create a Sony account (SHES Cloud service), SONY will collect the following:
We also collect information about your usage of the website of the SHES Account (access status, etc)
Once you have successfully signed into your Sony account (SHES Cloud service), your mobile device will receive a digital ‘access token’ from this Sony account (SHES Cloud service). Please be aware that some Sony accounts for other Sony group services will be linked automatically if you use the same sign-in ID and password. For more information about linking accounts, please go: https://acm.account.sony.com/linking-account
For password management and authentication, you can also register a security question and answer and telephone number at the Sony account (SHES Cloud service) security setting page. This Data is not used for any other purpose.
After you have completed sign-in authentication, you will create your SHES Account according to the [Terms of Use] and [Privacy policy for [Sony’s cloud service account for Home Entertainment & Sound Products] ] (“SHES Account Privacy Policy”). When you create your SHES Account, we will assign identifiers, issue tokens and collect the following information you provide:
Please note that you may create separate SHES Accounts for each email address you choose to use.
If you would like to know more about the processing of information above, please refer to the SHES Account Privacy Policy.
From time to time, SONY may ask you whether you would like to participate in one of our surveys. We may ask for information, such as your interests and preferences with regard to current and future audio-related products and services on the market.
You can decide not to participate in the survey by closing the browser or tabs of the survey at any point during the survey.
SONY may collect information about your ear through photos you take and incorporate in the Application. When you provide photos of your ear, SONY will extract and analyze features of your ear and use them only for the purposes of providing the 360 Reality Audio. SONY deletes the photos immediately after such extraction and analysis.
SONY may collect information about your ear through photos you take and incorporate in the Application. When you provide photos of your ear, SONY will extract and analyze features of your ear and use them only for the purposes of providing the 360 Spatial Sound Personalizer. SONY deletes the photos immediately after such extraction and analysis.
We collect your personal information as described in the Section 2 and process it as described in later sections of this Privacy Policy only if you give us your consent. The “Information about your ear” as described in the Section 2 (C) (iii) constitutes sensitive personal information. We process such personal information only if you give us your separate consent. The third parties described in Section 5 (B) each constitutes an independent and separate personal information processor, who determines its own purpose and means of processing. We provide your personal information to such third parties only if you give us your separate consent.
We obtain your consent and separate consent via the following methods:
(i) asking you to tap “Agree and proceed” accompanied with this Privacy Policy to give us your consent to our general processing of your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy;
(ii) asking you to give us your separate consent to our processing of your sensitive personal information via pop-up windows in the Application and/or the system of your Installed Devices when you start using a function which processes your sensitive personal information;
(iii) asking you to tick an additional box accompanied with this Privacy Policy to give us your separate consent to our improvement/development of SONY’s products and services and our providing your personal information to third-party independent personal information processors respectively
You can withdraw your consent regarding (ii) above at any time by stopping the function above, and your consent regarding (iii) above at any time by selecting "(3 dots) Menu" > "About this app" > "Privacy settings" in the Headphones Connect.” If you would like to withdraw your consent regarding (i) above, please contact SONY at www.sony.net/SonyInfo/Support/
In addition to providing you with the features/functions of each Application and the related services, SONY uses your Collected Data for the following purposes:
Headphones Connect provides a backup and restoration of settings service linked with your SHES Account, whereby the Related Device Settings Data is uploaded to and stored on our servers (“Backup and Restoration of Settings”). This enables you to backup and restore your Related Device Settings Data when you change your Installed Device by installing Headphones Connect on a new device and or re-installation of the Application and signing in to the same SHES Account.
If you would like to delete the Related Device Settings Data, you can go to [Backup and restoration of settings and records] > [Delete the backup and sign out].
Each time you start Headphones Connect on your Installed Device, Headphones Connect sends a “request” to SONY's server to check whether any updates for Headphones Connect or the firmware of the Related Device are available and to send latest software or firmware in case any update should be available. For this, we only use your IP address.
If Help is requested by you, certain technical information about the Installed Device, about Headphones Connect, and about the Related Device are transferred to SONY in order to provide service to you through the Help feature. This transfer of data enables SONY to provide you with “customized” Help webpages for Headphones Connect and the specific technical issue you experience.
If you activate a function, Headphones Connect will provide you with Activity tracking function based on your activity log with your Related Device.
If you would like to delete information regarding your Activity on Installed Device, you can go to [Activity Settings].
SONY uses the Collected Data to improve and develop SONY’s current and future products and services, which may be linked and analyzed in conjunction with the data we collect through other Sony audio applications if you use one of those. For the collected data through those applications, please refer to the privacy policies for those applications or services. Product improvement and/or development includes those relating to either an improvement of the technical functions of the Related Device or the usability of such product for user´s convenience.
SONY may use the Collected Data for marketing strategy and forecast, which may be linked and analyzed in conjunction with the data we collect through other Sony audio applications that you may use. For the collected data through those applications, please refer to the privacy policies for those applications.
SONY shares the Collected Data (except data collected solely for backup and restoration service) with SONY China which may provide you with news and recommendations including updates and advertisements regarding Sony products, services that may be of interest to you. Please note that SONY China may send news and recommendations via email when you give us additional consent (e.g., consent given on the webpage to create the SHES Account). These news and recommendations above may be targeted and/or personalized to be delivered to you directly or across websites that you visit.
By profiling, SONY China personalises the messages sent to you so that you can receive new product information, articles, offers and promotions that are tailored to your interests. You may notice this personalisation and targeting when you use Sony products and services, when SONY China contact you with marketing communications and when you visit Sony and third party websites and services that show advertisements from SONY or our advertising partners (for example, you might see an advertisement for a product that you have recently viewed on one of our websites).
The full legal name of SONY China is Sony (China) Limited. You may contact SONY China at SChina_Privacy_Dep@sony.com. In addition to the general description of SONY China’s processing activities in the paragraphs above, for more information on the privacy practices of SONY China, please refer to the respective privacy policy.
The 360 Spatial Sound Personalizer enables you to set up customized 360 Reality Audio settings by uploading your 360 Reality Audio settings data to Sony servers and linking to your Headphones Connect Account.
4. By obtaining information such as photos of your ear, the 360 Spatial Sound Personalizer provides you with sound optimized for the shape of your ear.
We do not share personal information with unaffiliated third parties for their own marketing purposes but we may share non-personal information, including aggregate data and anonymised data, with third parties to the fullest extent allowed by law. In addition, SONY may share Collected Data with SONY Affiliates and third parties, as follows, except the case of (C) below:
(A) Third parties who process your personal information on our behalf and in accordance our instructions
SONY may use third party service providers to process the Collected Data on its behalf for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. Such third parties include, but are not limited to, IT service providers and data hosting providers. Our hosting provider is Amazon Web Services in the United States, acting as our entrusted processor.
SONY may disclose the token issued by Firebase Cloud Messaging or Apple Push Notification service (Please refer to Section 2. (B) (i)) to Firebase, a service provided by Google Inc.(“Google”) for Android user, or Apple Push Notifications service, a service provided by Apple Inc. (“Apple”) for iOS user), in order to provide you with push notice function. To better understand how Google and Apple use the information they receive, visit:
Google,https://policies.google.com/privacy
Apple,https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww/
(B) Third parties who have their own purpose and means of processing
These third parties each determine its own purpose and means of processing your personal information received from us. To the extent permitted by the applicable law, we will inform you in this Privacy Policy the name and contact information of each third party, the categories of your personal information to be provided to the third party, and the purpose and means of the provision. We will not provide your personal information to any such third party before you give us your separate consent.
The Collected Data may be shared with and used by SONY China for the purposes expressly set out in Section 4 above if you give us your separate consents to such processing. SONY China ensures the level of protection of personal information equivalent to the standards about personal information protection as set out by SONY globally.
In the event that SONY sells or transfers a portion or all of its business, the Collected Data may be transferred by SONY to the purchasing or acquiring entity as part of the transaction, including any due diligence process connected to the sale or transfer. In this case, we will provide you with the name and contact information of the entity. We will continue to ensure the confidentiality of the Collected Data before such transaction occurs, and after such transaction, we will delete the Collected Data as soon as reasonably practicable.
Collected Data may be disclosed to government authorities and/or law enforcement officials if required by the applicable laws.
We may disclose Collected Data to auditors or similar external consultants like lawyers or tax advisors, to defend and exercise our legal rights (e.g. enforcing compliance with the terms of use) and as we believe necessary to comply with our legal obligations.
(C) Third parties with whom SONY does not provide Collected Data but who collect data by themselves for their own purpose and means of processing
If you use the “Detection of actions”, “Learning of locations you frequent” or “Register from map” function, you may need to allow Headphones Connect to access your location permissions to obtain your GPS data through Baidu Map SDK. When you activate these functions and allow providing Headphones Connect with your GPS data via your device, Headphones Connect will collect your GPS data. SONY do not collect or store this location information in any manner in our server unless you agree to store Related Device Settings Data with the Backup and Restoration of Settings service. You can get more Information regarding how Baidu Map SDK collects, uses and protects your personal information from Baidu Map SDK Privacy Policy(隐私政策 | 百度地图API SDK (baidu.com)).
[List of third-party SDKs ]
Baidu map
| SDK Provider | Beijing Baidu Netcom Technology Co., Ltd. |
| Collected Information by SDK | 1. Positioning SDK a. Device information, may include Android ID, IDFA, operating system version, device brand and model, configuration, application name; b. Location information, may include GNSS information, WiFi address, base station ID, carrier information, sensor information, IP address, and Bluetooth information; c. WiFi connecting information, may include WiFi status, WiFi parameters, and WiFi list. 2. Map SDK a. Device information, may include Android ID, operating system version, device brand and model, configuration, application name; b. Net work status, such as mobile network, WiFi or not connected to a network. |
| Purpose | 1. Positioning SDK To obtain location information. 2. Map SDK To obtain map information |
| Baidu Map SDK Privacy Policy | 隐私政策 | 百度地图API SDK (baidu.com) |
SONY will keep the Collected Data for as long as it is necessary for the relationship with you and the purposes detailed in Section 4 or otherwise permitted or required under applicable law.
SONY may retain Collected Data for an appropriate period to protect ourselves from legal claims, to administer our business, or to the extent permitted by applicable law, which may require us to hold the relevant Collected Data for specific periods.
Where SONY no longer requires the Collected Data, it will be destroyed or anonymized in line with internal SONY information security policies.
The Collected Data obtained from the Application or your device may be processed and stored on our servers in Amazon Web Services’ data centres in the United States.
As described in Section 5(A) above, the operator of Amazon Web Services is the IT service provider and data hosting provider who acts as our entrusted processor and processes your personal information in accordance with our instructions. Some of the third parties described in Section 5 with whom we share the Collected Data may be located in countries or regions other than China and the United States. Please contact us via www.sony.net/SonyInfo/Support/ if you want to know further details of any such third party.
SONY undertakes reasonable security measures designed to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of the Collected Data. Although SONY strives to protect the Collected Data, SONY cannot guarantee or warrant the absolute security of any Collected Data transmitted to SONY through the Application or that SONY stores on its systems or that is stored on SONY’s third party contractors' systems.
SONY is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations regarding the collection, storage and use of the Collected Data concerning children, including the Provisions on the Network Protection of Children's Personal Information in mainland China. This Application is intended for a general audience; the Application is not directed to and does not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 14. Depending on your country/region of residence, this threshold age for a child may differ. If you are a parent or guardian and are concerned that your child has provided SONY with personal information (as defined by applicable law), you should contact us as indicated below.
In some countries/regions, you have certain rights with respect to the Collected Data SONY or a SONY Affiliate holds about you. These may include (without limitation) the right to request a copy of the Collected Data that SONY or a SONY Affiliate holds about you and/or you may request that SONY or the SONY Affiliate corrects or supplements such Collected Data if it is inaccurate. You may also ask us to provide some types of the Collected Data to you, or another organization nominated by you, in a structured and machine-readable format. Where the processing of any Collected Data is based on your consent, you may withdraw consent and request SONY to suspend or terminate the relevant processing.In addition, if you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact SONY at www.sony.net/SonyInfo/Support/. If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your questions, concerns or have any complaints about how we process personal data, you have a right to lodge a complaint with the departments fulfilling personal information protection duties and responsibilities.
SONY reserves the right to make changes to this Privacy Policy and will notify you of any changes by prominently posting notice of the amendment on or within the Application. We may also provide notice to you in other ways, such as through contact information you have provided. You are advised to consult the posted Privacy Policy regularly for any changes.
Where the changes concern any processing that is based on your consent, we will obtain your consent (and separate consent where required) to the changes (e.g. by using tick boxes or agree buttons).
If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, or if you wish to exercise any legal right you may have in respect of the Collected Data, please contact us at www.sony.net/SonyInfo/Support/
If you wish to contact SONY China, please access and send your inquiry at
SChina_Privacy_Dep@sony.com