Microsoft, T-Mobile to Sidekick Users: Your Data’s Gone

Microsoft has fessed up to losing online the contacts, photos and personal data of T-Mobile Sidekick users. Owners of these message-heavy phones were already up in arms due to a data outage that began last weekend and persisted through the week, but it seems that in fixing the problem, Microsoft’s servers lost all personal information that wasn’t stored locally on users’ phones. T-Mobile, in a message on its Web site, said that a problem with Microsoft’s servers was “almost certainly” to blame, and there’s little chance that either company can salvage any of the lost personal data.

For most T-Mobile subscribers, the situation isn’t as bad as it sounds, because most people do store their data locally on a phone, not up in the cloud. Spokespeople from T-Mobile and Microsoft told the Wall Street Journal that you’re most at risk for data loss if you let your battery drain or removed it to reset the phone. However, the device’s online service is intended to save your data if something happens to your phone, so if you happen to be one of those people, you’re out of luck. The bigger issue, regardless of phone or carrier, is whether you can trust your data to someone else’s servers. This doesn’t inspire confidence. [via Wall Street Journal]