Windows Phone 7 Location Tracking Class Action Lawsuit

Looks like iPhone and Android aren’t the only devices keeping track of users’ locations. A federal class action lawsuit filed in Seattle alleges Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 also tracks users’ locations without their consent.

Plaintiff Rebecca Cousineau alleges in the Windows Phone 7 class action lawsuit that a camera application in the phone continues to record and share GPS location information with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) even after users opt out of location-reporting. The Windows Phone 7 tracking lawsuit also alleges that Microsoft lied to Congress about the extent of location information it collects.

According to the Windows Phone 7 tracking class action lawsuit, Microsoft is using location and network information gathered from Windows Phone devices to create a “digital map” of cell towers, Wi-Fi hotspots, and other information that can be used with geolocation technology. Microsoft is creating this map, the class action lawsuit says, not to provide better location-based services to consumers, but to create a targeted marketing system that can tailor its mobile ads to a user’s specific location.

“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,” wrote an attorney representing Cousineau. “In this way, Microsoft uses its customers as a virtual army of surveyors who constantly gather and transmit the geolocation information.”

The Windows Phone 7 class action lawsuit claims that Microsoft lied to both customers and Congress about the extent of location information it collects by stating it gathers nearby Wi-Fi access points only when a user has specifically permitted an application to access location services. However, Microsoft failed to mention that the camera app continues to search for and collect that information even after a user has opted out, the lawsuit says.

The Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Location Tracking Class Action Lawsuit is seeking class certification and unspecified damages for Class Members.

UPDATE: A judge has granted Microsoft’s motion for summary judgment and denied certification for the Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Location Tracking Class Action Lawsuit.