Effective Date: This Privacy Policy was revised and is effective as of April 23, 2024.
This Privacy Policy applies to the “Sony | BRAVIA Connect” (“Application”) and SONY’s certain sound bar and home theatre products connected to your Application. Such SONY’s sound bar and home theatre products are those that are compatible for connection with the network (“Sound Bar and Home Theatre Products”). This Privacy Policy explains our collection, use, sharing and other practices regarding your data when you use the Application and the Sound Bar and Home Theatre Products.
The Application is a mobile application dedicated to audio/visual devices from SONY. The Sound Bar and Home Theatre Products are SONY’s sound bar and home theatre products that are compatible with being connected to the Application which can control such devices and can connect with the network.
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. 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. This Privacy Policy only applies to the Applications and the Sound Bar and Home Theatre Products 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 these information or data may be considered personal information under applicable law in your jurisdiction. These are collected when you choose to provide information to us or automatically when you use (1) the Application and (2) the Sound Bar and Home Theatre Products (when you connect such Sound Bar and Home Theatre Products with the Application) (collectively, the “Collected Data”).
To link the Application with the Sound Bar and Home Theatre Products, you will be required to create a Sony’s cloud service account for Home Entertainment & Sound Products (“SHES Account”) according to the [
Terms of Use] and [Privacy Policy].
In order to create an SHES Account, you will first need to provide sign in authentication via either (1) a Sony account (SHES Cloud service) or (2) a Google, Facebook, Amazon or Apple (“ID provider”) authentication.
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.
If you choose to create or use a Sony account (SHES Cloud service) for authentication when you create a SHES Account, 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 to: 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 Collected Data is not used for any other purpose.
If you choose to use an ID provider authentication when you create a SHES Account, SONY will collect the following:
Please note that the information we collect from and through an ID provider may depend on the privacy settings you have set with the ID provider and the permissions you grant to us in connection with linking your SHES Account to your account with an ID provider. We do not share any Collected Data with the ID provider, and the personal information an ID provider has about you is obtained by the ID provider independent of our service and Sony is not responsible for it.
For more information how relevant ID provider handles the processing of your data, please visit the following websites:
After you have completed sign-in authentication, you will create your SHES Account and we will assign identifiers, issue tokens and collect the following information you provide:
Please note that such identifiers may be linked with the other Collected Data.
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.
After you have completed sign-in authentication, you will create your SHES Account and we will assign identifiers, issue tokens and collect the following information you provide:
Email address;
SONY uses your Collected Data for the following purposes:
SONY processes the Collected Data to provide or operate the features and functions of the Application and the Sound Bar and Home Theatre Products.
Each time you start the Application on your Installed Device, the Application sends a “request” to SONY's server to check whether any updates for the Application or the firmware of the Related Device (including Sound Bar and Home Theatre Products) 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 the Application and about the Related Device (including Sound Bar and Home Theatre Products) is 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 the Application and Sound Bar and Home Theatre Products and the specific technical issue you experience. For this, we process the following Collected Data:
Information about the Installed Device and component parts thereof: Language code, Country, Region, IP address, Time zone.
Information about the Application: Application ID, Application version (including operating system information), usage status and history information (technical data, e.g. screen or error ID etc.).
Information about the Related Device: Operational status and setting information of the Related Device (technical data, e.g. software version or Bluetooth codec), information regarding the usage status and history of the Related Device (technical data, e.g. Bluetooth strength).
SONY uses the Collected Data (except for data collected under Section 2 (1)(i)) 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 improvements of the technical functions of the Related Device and the usability of SONY's products and services. Such product improvement/development is only done on a “general” level, not on an individual user level, so specific users are not targeted. This includes, through analysing log-files of the app usage,
complementing our app with new useful functions if we determine malfunctions or other technical issues (e.g. new function to fix connectivity issues); or
change of default or other settings respectively accentuating specific settings/functions respectively ceasing certain functions, in any case to add value to your user experience.
SONY may for this purpose ask you whether you would like to participate in one of our surveys by using Collected Data. 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 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 products and applications that you may use. For the collected data through those applications, please refer to the privacy policies for those applications.
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 de-identified 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:
The Collected Data may be shared with and used by SONY Affiliates for internal business purposes and for product and service improvement and development, which may be linked and analysed in conjunction with the data we collect through other Sony products and applications if you use any of those. The Collected Data may be also shared with and used by its local operating SONY Affiliates for their marketing strategy and forecast as well. This is only done with information that does not identify you personally, using aggregated and/or anonymized, i.e. non-personal manner. SONY may otherwise share Collected Data with SONY Affiliates for other purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. If you contact your local SONY Affiliates in relation to queries on the Applications, or for repair or return requests of Related Devices we also may need to share Collected Data with that Sony Affiliates in connection with that request.
SONY and SONY Affiliates may use third party service providers to process the Collected Data on their behalf for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. Such third party service providers include, but are not limited to, IT service providers and data hosting providers. Our hosting provider is Amazon Web Services in the US, acting as our processor.
In the event that SONY or a SONY Affiliate sells or transfers a portion or all of its business, the Collected Data may be transferred by SONY or such SONY Affiliate to the purchasing or acquiring entity as part of the transaction, including any due diligence process connected to the sale or transfer.
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.
The Application uses Firebase, a service provided by Google Inc.(“Google”) for Android user, and Apple Push Notifications service, a service provided by Apple Inc.(“Apple”) for iOS user, in order to provide you push notice function. To better understand how Google and Apple use the information it receives, visit:
Google, https://policies.google.com/privacy
Apple, https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww/
SONY will start processing the data after you provide us with or allow us to collect your data or a third party's data.
SONY will keep the Collected Data for as long as it is necessary for the relationship with you and the purposes detailed in Section 3 or otherwise permitted or required under applicable law.
The Collected Data may be processed, stored and transferred from your country/regions of residence to countries/regions outside your country/region of residence, including in particular Japan and the United States. We use a variety of legal mechanisms, including data sharing agreements, to ensure adequate level of protection of the Collected Data. By using the Application, or providing us with any information, you fully understand and consent to this transfer, processing and storage of your information in the United States, Japan and other jurisdictions, where the privacy laws may not be as comprehensive as those in the country where you reside and/or are a citizen.
This may impact your rights in your local jurisdiction and also in the applicable overseas jurisdiction(s). These overseas jurisdictions may also need to disclose your personal information to a third party, such as an overseas authority.
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 security of any Collected Data transmitted to SONY through the Application and/or Sound Bar and Home Theatre Products, 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 Children's Online Privacy Protection Act in the United States. This Application and the Sound Bar and Home Theatre Products, is intended for a general audience; these are not directed to and does not knowingly collect personal information from children. 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. You may have the right to access such Collected Data; restrict the usage of such Collected Data; object to or withdraw consent for processing of such Collected Data; rectify such Collected Data where inaccurate or incomplete; request for deletion of such Collected Data, including anonymization of the Collected Data; and/or request us to provide a copy of such Collected Data to you, or another organization nominated by you, in a structured and machine-readable format.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 local data protection supervisory authority and other self-protection rights according to applicable law.
These rights may be limited, for example if fulfilling your request would reveal personal information about another person, or if you ask us to delete the Collected Data which SONY are required by law to keep or have compelling legitimate interests in keeping. If you withdraw your consent to any or all use of the Collected Data, depending on the nature of your request, we may not be able to continue to provide its products and/or services to you. In addition, there are some circumstances in which we are not required to give you access to the Collected Data.
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.
Your continued use of the Application after the posted effective date will constitute acceptance of, and agreement to be bound by those changes to the extent allowed by law.
Please read this Privacy Policy carefully because by using this Application, you will be deemed to have agreed and consented to the terms of this Privacy Policy.
By agreeing to this Privacy Policy and by using the Application, you agree that you will not hold SONY or SONY Affiliates liable to any complaints or damages whatsoever relating to the processing of the Collected Data by an acquiring entity in the event a business transfer as described in Section 4. of this Privacy Policy takes place. You should ensure that all Collected Data submitted to us is complete, accurate, true and correct because it may result in our inability to provide you with the products and services you have requested.
If you provide us with the Collected Data and/or any personal information relating to a third party (e.g., information of your spouse, children, and/or parents), by submitting the Collected Data and/or such personal information to us, you represent to us that you have obtained the required consent of the third party to provide us with their Collected Data.
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/
Sony Corporation, would designate a domestic representation according to Korea local regulation as following.
Name: Sony Korea Corporation (representative director:Okura Kikuo)
Address: 24F, One IFC, 10 Gukjegeumyung-Ro, Yeongdeungpo-Gu, Seoul, Korea
Contact information: 02-1588-0911/sokprivacy@sony.co.kr
If you have any concerns about how we process your data, you can find our contact details below or on the website of your local Sony Group Companies at:
For Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean:
Regional Latin America Privacy Office at https://www.sony-latin.com/corporate/SOLA/home.html
Africa and Middle East: https://www.sony-mea.com/en/locale-selector
Asia & Oceania: http://www.sony-asia.com/countryselector.html