14 DAY TRIAL // Last week, Redmond-based software giant Microsoft started the roll-out of Mango, a new software update for its Windows Phone devices, meant to bring along a wide range of enhancements into the mix, including some that resolved an issue with location tracking.
Prior to Mango, Windows Phones were found to be sending details on users' location, which was seen as a violation of customers' privacy.
Other mobile platforms out there were also found to have a similar behavior, yet Microsoft said that its platform won't send info on user's location, something that was found not to be true, it seems.
In a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives, Microsoft noted the following: “Microsoft only collects information to help determine a phone’s approximate location if (a) the user has allowed an application to access and use location data, and (b) that application actually requests the location data.”
Even so, due to what appears to have been a bug, Windows Phones still used to send info on location.
However, following the release of Mango on Windows Phone devices out there, all this has changed, and handsets will not be sending location data unless the user specifically allows it to.
Windows Phone developer Rafael Rivera who discovered the bug in the first places, notes in a recent blog post that the issue has been resolved in the meantime.
“I have confirmed that Windows Phone ‘Mango’ no longer sends location data prior to being granted permission to do so,” he states.
“The behavior I’m now seeing is perfectly aligned with Microsoft’s letter to the U.S. House of Representatives.”
Clearly, this shows that Microsoft is committed both to user privacy, as well as to fixing any bugs that its mobile OS has. One thing that it sure is that the company patched this issue in Windows Phone soon after being found.