Microsoft Releases Mobile Data Collection Source Code

mikejuk writes "To avoid the problems that Google and Apple have had with collecting WiFi data and privacy issues Microsoft has just released [some of] the source code used in its mobile data collection system. The code shows how the phones that it drives around don't collect any personal data — just WiFi and cell tower identification so that they can be used in geolocation. The source code is a great educational resouce but as to proving that Microsoft is doing the right thing it just doesn't work. First off, it isn't complete. Second, who is to say that it is the code used in the phones? That's the point of software — it's easy to change. Now if only we can provoke them to release large chunks of Windows or Windows Phone 7...."

I work for Microsoft...

[beamsplitter]

... and while I don't work with this team, I can tell you that it will have been released in good faith, and that the code in the phones will not be any different. I've seen nothing but honesty and integrity in the two years that I've worked for the company.

Re:Partial release rings alarm bells

[Anonymous Coward]

Not with comments like "Second, who is to say that it is the code used in the phones?" coming from the person who wrote the summary. You could ship that jackball straight to Redmond, sit him down in front of a workstation at Microsoft, let him review the code himself and press the build button himself, and he'd still think it was a clever ruse on Microsoft's part.