Late last week, HTC was accused of collecting location and personal data from a number of its handsets, breaching privacy in a similar way to Apple's iOS 4 devices earlier this year.
XDA reported that the over the air update to Gingerbread 2.3.4 for the HTC Sensation and HTC Evo 3D included "User Behaviour Logging" which records "virtually every single action on your device" and sends it to Amazon cloud storage.
HTC has responded to the claims, explaining that all data collected is simply used to provide informed error reporting, and not to track all your movements Big Brother style.
Opt-in tin
The company told XDA, "HTC, like most manufacturers, has an opt-in error reporting function built in to our devices.
"If your phone experiences an error, you have the option of "Telling HTC" so we can make improvements to our phones.
"Details about this are in our privacy policy on each device and in order for data to be collected, you have to opt-in. If you do opt-in, we protect your privacy by de-identifying and encrypting the data.
"HTC is committed to protecting your privacy and that means a commitment to clear opt-in/opt-out as the standard for collecting any information we need to serve you better."
So there you have it folks, somewhat of a storm in a teacup. Be sure to check your settings if you're not keen on your (encrypted and non-identified) data being stored by the company, otherwise it's business as usual.
Microsoft, however, hasn't got off so lightly. It's the subject of a lawsuit over location tracking in Seattle, with the class action accusing Windows Phone 7 of continuing to locate users even after they've asked for the tracking to stop.
From XDA
