Windows Phone 7 Confirmed to Send Unauthorized Location Data
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Several major mobile platforms have already been in hot water due to alleged user-tracking activities, and Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 is one of them. In recent news, Microsoft had been sued because of unauthorized tracking, and now field tests have proven that WP7 smartphones, indeed, track users without consent.
Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS have both been criticized for sending location data back to servers without consent or consideration. Both platform makers say that the location-tracking systems are actually features that help improve the performance of their respective mobile devices by caching network and server data. But they have had to work on a fix, due to mounting user pressure to improve privacy.
Recently, Microsoft has been subject to the same scrutiny, as Windows Phone 7 was reportedly sending location data back with photos taken from Windows Phone 7 handsets, even without the user expressly confirming this feature. The company was slapped with a class-action lawsuit in Seattle, with mobile phone experts fielding their knowledge on how tracking works.
While work on that was largely theoretical at first, this has been proven by Rafael Rivera of the WP7 jailbreak community. The smartphones’ camera system has even been found to send packets to agps.location.live.net and interface.location.live.net. In particular, WP7 smartphones will send the OS version, device information, wireless access points in the vicinity (including MAC address), and other GUID-based identifiers.
This might be expected of a normal location-based transaction, but Windows Phone 7 transmits this information even before a user confirms the request to transmit his location. Microsoft has earlier promised that it will not collect such information, although the field tests conducted by Rivera prove otherwise. It will now be up to Microsoft to explain and fix this behavior on their WP7 devices. As of writing, Microsoft has not provided any response to the matter.
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The TFTS Team
Say what? Get your facts straight or don’t just repeat the lame info to incriminate Google in this mess. Google does not collect data without your permission. Apple and now Microsoft do. That’s a fact CrApple users still refuse to admit. Google not only informs you, but gives you a choice. Both Microsoft and Apple are the creeps no doubt!