A lawsuit has been filed in a district court in Seattle that accuses Microsoft of tracking Windows Phone users without their knowledge or expressed permission.
Earlier this year, Apple found itself on the receiving end of comparable complaints and potential legal threats.
In this particular instance, plaintiff Rebecca Cousineau alleges that tech giant Microsoft is proceeding with the development of a targeted location-based advertising system and, as a result, continues to “map the locations of cell towers, wireless routers, mobile phones, and computers to do so effectively.”
The complaint alleges that Microsoft chose to collect this information from Windows Phone users rather than go through the expensive and laborious process of collecting the information itself.
“Microsoft’s scheme is executed through its camera application, which comes standard with a mobile device running the Windows Phone OS,” the complaint states, according to a published report from InformationWeek.
“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,” the complaint adds. “Thus, Microsoft surreptitiously forces even unwilling users into its non-stop geo-tracking program in the interest of developing its digital marketing grid.”
