Trackers

In a post written last July, this student mentioned in passing about the lawsuit lodged against Apple for surreptitiously storing location and movement of its users, only to read on the news two months later that a suit was filed against Microsoft, maintaining that the latter gathered location information from Windows 7 smartphones. It allegedly recorded the whereabouts of its users, in disregard of people refusing to consent to the same.

It is said in the reports that when a user initially opens the pre-installed camera application, a message pops up, asking permission to automatically tag images with the device's location. "This information also helps us provide you with improved location services. We won't use information to identify you or contact you." said the message box.

Indeed, as stated by this student in her previous entry, there is now a growing concern regarding unauthorized tracking. Should companies be allowed to continue the same? If in the affirmative, who then owns the data automatically, many times without the consent of the users, generated by the device and stored by the companies manufacturing them? If the manufacturers are said to own the same, are there any limitations to the use or transmission of the said information they have gathered?

Sources:

http://technology.inquirer.net/3875/microsoft-faces-suit-over-trackers-in-windows-7-smartphones/

Entry # 12 by Diana Margaret C. Lauron