Friday, July 29, 2011

Microsoft privacy -- hypocrisy in action.

Declan McCullagh at CNET reports that Microsoft has collected the MAC addresses and geolocation of millions of WiFi-enabled devices, and as a database, is readily accessible online to track said devices.  So it is ironic that earlier this month, Microsoft published the code of its version of Google's Street View data collection, to show that it was not collecting private data, though obviously it did not tell anyone it was transmitting your location, such that people smart enough to know how to, could track your location.

Truthfully, having my MAC address transmitted publicly is not that big of a deal, considering it only allows my device to be tracked, if WiFi is enabled at the time -- I don't have my phone's WiFi turned on most of the time.  And it does not mean that your devices are vulnerable as a result.  What it does do however, is it makes it easier for people to spy on your location, and that can be a bit creepy.

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