Microsoft Details Windows Phone Location Info

Apple hasn't been having the greatest week so far, thanks to some negative attention over its iOS devices storing location data. The company's facing inquiries from U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), who fired off letters to Apple CEO Steve Jobs asking for greater clarification on news that the iPhone and 3G-enabled iPad running iOS 4 have been saving that kind of information to a hidden database file. (Researchers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden first wrote about iOS 4's supposed location-sniffing abilities in an April 20 posting on O'Reilly Radar blog, sparking this whole thing off.)

In an FAQ posted on its corporate Website, Apple attempted to clarify its position on location-logging.

"The iPhone is not logging your location," reads one section. "Rather, it's maintaining a database of WiFi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than 100 miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested."

Apple goes on to insist that the iPhone only stores a protected subset of that total crowd-sourced database. "The location data that researchers are seeing on the iPhone is not the past or present location of the iPhone, but rather the locations of WiFi hotspots and cell towers surrounding the iPhone's location," reads the FAQ, "which can be more than 100 miles away from the iPhone."

Perhaps anxious to avoid attracting that same sort of negative attention, Microsoft moved to place its Windows Phone location-data policies front-and-center.

"When you allow an application or game to access your device's location, the application or game will connect to Microsoft's location services and request the approximate location of the device," reads the FAQ posted on Microsoft's corporate Website. "The location service will respond by providing the application or game with the location coordinates of the user's device (when available), which the application or game can then use to enrich the user experience."

Microsoft's location services apparently rely on a database of local cell towers and known WiFi access points to "provide an approximate location of the user's device." In addition to WiFi access points, those services can also leverage a device's GPS (when available) to provide observed longitude, latitude, direction and speed.

The FAQ also insists the location services "will only collect information when you allow a particular application to request location information and that particular application requests location information." While Windows Phone apparently doesn't save any location data to a smartphone's memory, Microsoft also doesn't mention whether any information transmitted back to the company is encrypted in transit.

In addition, Microsoft also insisted that any location information "is not shared with mobile operators," and that users can deny applications access to their location information.

Windows Phone users, does that explanation make you feel more secure? Or are you already reaching for the tinfoil hats?

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