Google Also Collects Mobile Location Data

Wall Street Journal: Earlier this week, researchers unleashed a flood of media comment when they revealed that Apple's iPhone stores user data in an unencrypted file on the phone and every device that the phone syncs with. Now, security analyst Samy Kamkar says that Android phones collect the same sort of information and send it to Google several times an hour. The data transmitted includes the name, location and signal strength of any nearby Wi-Fi networks, as well as a unique phone identifier.

Analysts say that this location-based data could help Apple and Google tap into the estimated $2.9 billion market for location-based services.