Microsoft investigates location data collection accusations

Last week Microsoft was sued for allegedly collecting location data from it Windows Phone users despite them opting out of sending location data on their phones. This week, Microsoft has responded to the lawsuit with a statement saying, “Microsoft is investigating the claims raised in the complaint. We take consumer privacy issues very seriously. Our objective was — and remains — to provide consumers with control over whether and how data used to determine the location of their devices are used, and we designed the Windows Phone operating system with this in mind.”So while the statement didn’t do anything to alleviate users’ concerns about their location privacy, Microsoft also mentioned, “The data captured and stored on our location database cannot be correlated to a specific device or user. Any transmission of location data by the Windows Phone camera would not enable Microsoft to identify an individual or ‘track’ his or her movements.”

No word on what action will be taken next, but hopefully Microsoft’s investigation turns out to be fruitful, and the company comes up with an explanation or some sort of patch to rectify the issue.

George Wong
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: lawsuit, Microsoft, tracking, Windows Phone, Windows Phone 7, wp