Microsoft has issued a statement today regarding the recent allegation that the company was collecting information from Windows Phone users without consent. According to the allegation, Microsoft raced to develop its targeted location-based advertising system by collecting information from Windows Phone users, whether or not the user refuses.
Apparently, the issue was that Microsoft was supposedly tracking Windows Phone users, rather than mapping cell tower, wireless router, mobile phone, and computer locations. “Microsoft brazenly continues to collect users’ location information, regardless of whether or not the individual chooses ‘cancel’ so as to not allow such information to be tracked. Thus, Microsoft surreptitiously forces even unwilling users into its non-stop geo-tracking program in the interest of developing its digital marketing grid,” the complaint further stated.
Microsoft issued a statement denying that such actions were being taken by the company.
“Because we do not store unique identifiers with any data transmitted to our location service database by the Windows Phone camera or any other application, 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. 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,” Microsoft stated.
Further reading: Microsoft, Windows Phone 7
