Microsoft is reportedly facing legal action over allegations that it tracks the location of its mobile users even if they have turned the tracking software off.
The lawsuit, filed a couple of weeks ago in a Seattle federal court, accuses Microsoft of collecting data about its users and their whereabouts without their permission, especially as many customers opt out of location tracking.
Microsoft, which no doubt has a watertight professional indemnity insurance policy to defend breach of privacy cases such as this, has so far not commented on the lawsuit. However, the company did previously send a letter to Congress explaining that data is only ever collected with the user’s consent. The letter stated:
“Microsoft collects limited information necessary to determine the approximate location of a device. Collection is always with the express consent of the user and the goal of our collection is never to track where a specific device has been or is going.”
The lawsuit, on the other hand, asserts that this claim is false, and that Microsoft has been transmitting location data using the cameras on its phones, when they are switched on.