SEATTLE, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- A lawsuit filed in Seattle charges Microsoft has been gathering location data on users of its Window Phone 7 even when the users have opted out.
Kim Stephens, a lawyer for the Michigan woman who brought the suit, says Microsoft wants the information to develop targeted marketing, SeattlePI.com reported. To do that, the company would need a detailed digital map of its customer base, Stephens said.
"Faced with the expensive and laborious task of collecting this information, Microsoft has elected to gather instead the necessary geolocation information through its customers' mobile devices," Stephens said. "In this way, Microsoft uses its customers as a virtual army of surveyors who constantly gather and transmit the geolocation information necessary to build its digital map."
The lawsuit says Microsoft is invading its customers' privacy and that its executives lied to Congress.
