Microsoft Collects Phone Location Data Without Permission

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This is just another example of Microsoft blatantly copying Apple! Hell, they might as well use Apple's "it's a bug" excuse while they are at it. :D

"The Windows Mobile operating system is clearly sending information that can lead to accurate location information of the mobile device regardless of whether the user allowed it," Kamkar wrote in an analysis made public yesterday as part of a lawsuit filed against Microsoft. Lawyers for the suit, who are seeking class action status, hired him to perform the testing.
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Which phone doesn't? ^^ Guess you have to go back to dumb phones to have any sort of privacy.
 
For a while there I was thinking that Apple might have been copying Microsoft with the references to Windows Mobile.
 
why does everyone act like it matters? every mobile manufacturer has been doing this since cell phones could fit in ones pocket.
 
Pogo said:
why does everyone act like it matters? every mobile manufacturer has been doing this since cell phones could fit in ones pocket.
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thinking the same, its not like every one of the billions of people on this planet will actually look and care for you, unless you have something to hide of course :D, imo the location feature on phones is not that big a deal
 
srangara said:
It shouldn't be a problem unless you have something to hide.
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no, some people enjoy their privacy from corporations and state actors. Not everyone who doesn't want to be "found" has something devious to hide. Corporations shouldn't have the right to track your every location in the first place; it's probably too late for government. They say they are only tracking us "anonymously" to provide us "better services" in the future, but the government will inevitably force them to reveal all their info.
 
srangara said:
It shouldn't be a problem unless you have something to hide.
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But many people do have something to hide, plus there are many others who like the illusion of privacy.

And no having something to hide does not instantly mean they are a bad person or are doing something illegal.
 
I want spam ads on my phone. Like, if they can see I'm in a sporting goods store, I want to have them spam the crap out of me with sales an coupons and stuff. If I'm at the doctore getting my 'roids treated, I want ointment ads. Honestly, if I'm not being bombarded by advertising, I won't feel like I'm in America.
 
This is just another frivolous money grab by damn freakin lawyers that need to die. You might as well say that they need to sue all ISPs on fixed and mobile platforms as well because they know have information on where u are. I hope the court dismisses the suit with prejudice and sanctions the lawyers as well.
 
Link is broken, however I just bought a windows 7 phone and you have to opt in for location services.
 
bacon said:
Link is broken, however I just bought a windows 7 phone and you have to opt in for location services.
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Well, should you ever get to RTFA, you'd see that this is about the fact that even when you explicitly say NO, aka you DON'T opt in, it's possible that you're STILL being tracked anyway.
 
Don't know much about the phones. I'm using winmoble 6.1.So I shut off my gps, does that still mean they can still locate me other then the phone company, or are they tied in with them and get my location.
 
SamuraiInBlack said:
Well, should you ever get to RTFA, you'd see that this is about the fact that even when you explicitly say NO, aka you DON'T opt in, it's possible that you're STILL being tracked anyway.
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http://www.hardocp.com/news/2011/09/01/microsoft_collects_phone_location_data_without_permission

So after reading the article it is when you use the camera that your location is sent. Even if you opt not to send the info.

Kamkar says the Camera application transmits location data to Microsoft's inference.location.live.net even if the user chooses to say "no" when prompted.
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Wonder if this is skydrive related? The article didn't say.
 
This only matters for the 27 non Microsoft employees who actually have a WIndows Phone 7.
 
Data collection isn't anything new, really. Phone companies always know where you are if you have your phone on, but that doesn't mean they give a crap about where you are and what you're doing. If you have a cellular connection with a tower, you can be pin-pointed.

But Microsoft isn't collecting this data to spy on you, just in the same way Google doesn't collect data on your search habits because it wants to rat you out to your mom or girlfriend that you were looking at porn at 12:03am on a Tuesday night. Now I agree, it's a bit unnerving at a personal level to know that some of these corporations probably know too much, but you have to think about the monetizing value here. For Google, Microsoft, or AT&T to know what you were doing or where you are at a given time doesn't doesn't benefit them financially. What does benefit them (Microsoft & Google) financially is understanding search habit, and very often both Bing and Google search engines have their algorithms modified to accommodate new and changing search habits. I'm sure AT&T and Verizon use their location targeting to know what given areas in a city or countryside experience signal loss, and they design their tower layout accordingly.

Now let's talk about the pain point here. No one likes advertising in their face. I don't. You don't. We all don't. So let's get that out of the way and make something clear. I don't want to wake up in the morning and be blasted ads pertaining about Radeon video cards because I happened to read an article about it last night. But, so long as we all love our websites where we don't have to pay a dime to read any content, advertising is here to stay, and is the primary source of funding the internet that we all know and love. With that said, one of the largest pain points for search engines has to do with location targeting. All three major search engines in the United States: Bing, Yahoo, and Google, use reverse-IP targeting. Both Yahoo and Google have long learned that reverse-ip targeting isn't very accurate, as it's not federal law for internet service providers to to keep their IP address logs consistently up to date. Yahoo and Google use additional software to cross-check your location, and will determine it accordingly. For the most part, it's fairly accurate, but even then it's not always. Sadly, Bing only uses strict reverse-ip level targeting, and isn't always hot-on-the-spot when it comes to knowing your location as a result.

Now how does knowing your location benefit you? Well it benefits you and others in several ways. Knowing your location a lot of times means providing you with more choice. Not all companies out there are trying to get in your face and advertise in your bedroom, but for locally owned companies, it can mean the difference between being seen and not. Joe Carpet Cleaners down the road isn't going to advertise across the United States. Joe Carpet Cleaners is a family business who just targets your area. By allowing them to know your location, this means when you're searching for a given product, Joe Carpet Cleaners can compete with the big guys in your area (where the big guys may have the advertising budget to target their ads regionally or nationally).

And, if Joe Carpet Cleaners offers a better service at a better price than the big guys in your areas, that's not necessarily a bad thing. The key thing to remember is that unless these services know your location, they're not going to display you that ad. It isn't advantageous for any major big named search engine to blow your face up with ads, as Google, Yahoo, and Bing will only display an appropriate amount of ads depending on quality, relevancy, and search volume.

So where does WP7, Android, and iOS fit into all of this? Turns out phone companies don't directly share targeting locations with search engines. It's up to the operating system of the phone to try and identify that. But, as long as turning on location based services like GPS and signal triangulation eat up 75% of your battery life, users will always have the option of opting into this feature on their own behalf.
 
The world is on the right track, we don't have to worry that all this tracking will bite us on the ass.

Things are going so well that we all should be chipped, like on Star Trek. Tagged, recorded, scanned and monitored 24/7, because you don't have nothing to hide.

Having nothing to hide, is hand in hand with not ever being able to hide, if needed.
 
dugn said:
This only matters for the 27 non Microsoft employees who actually have a WIndows Phone 7.
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That's a 1000 apps per user, sweeet!

Actually have an HTC Arrive running Mango and at this point Windows Phone does a LOT of very small and subtle things better than iOS or Android when it comes to a smart phone as opposed to a small computer or app platform.
 
I'm not complaining. I think it do more good than it does wrong. Keep stupid criminals and terrorists in check. It might save one of our lives one of these day.
 
ASIA911 said:
I'm not complaining. I think it do more good than it does wrong. Keep stupid criminals and terrorists in check. It might save one of our lives one of these day.
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Also if we just kill everybody that means we also killed all the criminals. Might save our lives too.
 
ASIA911 said:
I'm not complaining. I think it do more good than it does wrong. Keep stupid criminals and terrorists in check. It might save one of our lives one of these day.
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How the hell is it supposed to keep them in check? How is Microsoft going to save our lives?:eek:
 
CryingGod said:
How the hell is it supposed to keep them in check? How is Microsoft going to save our lives?:eek:
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How many people go missing each year? Not saying I want to be tracked but my guess is that more than a few people at least at one point in life would have been happy with this "feature. I wonder if this is still a problem in Mango.
 
heatlesssun said:
How many people go missing each year? Not saying I want to be tracked but my guess is that more than a few people at least at one point in life would have been happy with this "feature. I wonder if this is still a problem in Mango.
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If that was something I wanted, then they can make that opt-into.
 
Look on the bright side if you crash and they need to find you or something or you can't move they can track your phone and find you not that bad.,..
 
Another not surprising tech story lol... what a shame that some of these fat cat companies can go and do as they wish, no thinking ahead, and with no reprocussions.
 
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