Earlier this month, Microsoft filed a patent application that presents a method of collecting information about users’ “cellphones, geolocation systems, credit card information” and other sources of data to select and display “targeted advertising”.  While collecting user data to target advertising is nothing new, Microsoft’s filing points to another source of data: offline sources.

This collection of user data has been a touchy issue with consumers, but a spokesman for Microsoft indicates that patent filings don’t necessarily indicate product plans for the company, and that before anything were implemented Microsoft would check it against their privacy standards.

Like most online advertising schemes, Microsoft gets paid when consumers click on ads that a company has placed.  To earn more money, they need more clicks, which reveals exactly why refining the targeting of advertising will net them more income.  (more…)