Lawsuit alleges that Windows Phone 7 tracks users
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Microsoft is facing a lawsuit that claims it tracks the location of its smartphone users, even if they ask not to be followed.
A class action suit was proposed against Microsoft in a filing in the Seattle federal court. The filing alleged that the software giant had lied in its letter to Congress in May this year, when it said it only collected location data with the express permission of the user, according to Reuters.
"Collection is always with the express consent of the user and the goal of our collection is never to track where a specific device has been or is going," Microsoft said in the letter.
Worries about how much info smartphones collect and how the captains of the technology industry use that info were kicked into high gear in April, when security researchers said the iPhone kept track of everywhere you went and saved the details to a secret file. The files were stored on the phones and were also copied over to users' computers when they synched with the iPhone, with up to a year's worth of location data kept.
After the story broke, US lawmakers started a probe into location tracking on mobiles, and sent letters to Apple, Microsoft and other mobile OS developers, as well as carriers, asking for information on location data on their phones and tablets.
Today's suit has been brought by a Windows Phone 7 user and claims that Microsoft transmits latitude and longitude coordinates, a unique ID and nearby Wi-Fi access points when the camera application is activated, even when the user has not given it permission to do so. The suit is seeking an injunction and punitive damages.
Microsoft declined to comment when contacted by The Reg. ®
COMMENTS
Tracking is contagious
The then-latest update a month or two back to Angry Birds on Android not only wanted my location data but access to my SMS messages, contact list, phone and identity and full internet access. That's just too much personal data - especially for a damned GAME. I declined the update and removed AB from my phone. Didn't play it very much anyway.
I have some US Govt "Sensitive" level data in my contact list and I just don't need some fscking GAME accessing it!
> Microsoft declined to comment when contacted by The Reg. ®
You mean - <gasp> - shock horror - you can actually *contact* Microsoft??!!
re: Is the allegation true?
one would think it would be very easy to figure out by putting a WiFi connected WP7 on a sniffed network and turn on the camera application. I see one problem though and that is finding someone with a WP7 device.
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