[LINK] Like Apple and Google, Microsoft collects location data on Windows Phone 7 users

[Kim Holburn]

So ... they all seem to be doing it.

http://www.boingboing.net/2011/04/26/like-apple-and-googl.html

> Like Apple and Google, Microsoft collects location data on Windows Phone 7 users
> 
> Xeni Jardin at 4:48 PM Tuesday, Apr 26, 2011 
> 
> Over at CNET, Declan McCullagh reports that Microsoft also collects records of the whereabouts of people who use its mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7.
> 
> In recent weeks, we've blogged here at Boing Boing about controversy surrounding revelations that Apple collects physical location data for iPhone and iPad users, and that Google does too, for Android users. Snip from CNET piece:
> 
>> Windows Phone 7, supported by manufacturers including Dell, HTC, LG, Nokia, and Samsung, transmits to Microsoft a miniature data dump including a unique device ID, details about nearby Wi-Fi networks, and the phone's GPS-derived exact latitude and longitude.
>> A Microsoft representative was not immediately able to answer questions that CNET posed this afternoon, including how long the location histories are stored and how frequently the phone's coordinates are transmitted over the Internet. Windows Phone currently claims about a 6 percent market share but, according to IDC, will capture about 21 percent by 2015 thanks to Microsoft's partnership with Nokia.
>> 
>> Microsoft does say, however, that location histories are not saved directly on the device. That's different from Apple's practice of recording the locations of visible cell towers on iPhone and iPad devices, which can result in more than a year's worth of data being quietly logged. Google's approach, by contrast, records only the last few dozen locations on Android phones.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20057329-281.html

> Microsoft collects locations of Windows phone users
> 
> by Declan McCullagh
> 
> Like Apple and Google, Microsoft collects records of the physical locations of customers who use its mobile operating system.
> 
> Windows Phone 7, supported by manufacturers including Dell, HTC, LG, Nokia, and Samsung, transmits to Microsoft a miniature data dump including a unique device ID, details about nearby Wi-Fi networks, and the phone's GPS-derived exact latitude and longitude.
> 
> A Microsoft representative was not immediately able to answer questions that CNET posed this afternoon, including how long the location histories are stored and how frequently the phone's coordinates are transmitted over the Internet. Windows Phone currently claims about a 6 percent market share but, according to IDC, will capture about 21 percent by 2015 thanks to Microsoft's partnership with Nokia.
> 

> Microsoft does say, however, that location histories are not saved directly on the device. That's different from Apple's practice of recording the locations of visible cell towers on iPhone and iPad devices, which can result in more than a year's worth of data being quietly logged. Google's approach, by contrast, records only the last few dozen locations on Android phones.

Wait...what?  Microsoft phones transmit the user's location over the internet?
....
> Microsoft says its operating system transmits the MAC address of the Wi-Fi access point (but not the name), signal strength, a randomly generated unique device ID retained for an unspecified limited period of time, and, if GPS is turned on, the precise location and direction and speed of travel. That happens when the "application or user makes a request for location information," the company says.


-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
T: +61 2 61402408  M: +61 404072753
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request