Privacy Statement
Windows and Me Privacy Statement
(last updated:29th July 2008)
Microsoft is committed to protecting your privacy.
This privacy statement applies to the data collected
by Microsoft through the Windows and Me site (the “Site”);
it does not apply to data collected through other online
or offline Microsoft sites, products or services.
Collection of Your Personal Information
We will ask you when we need information that personally
identifies you or allows us to contact you. The personal
information we collect may include name, e-mail address,
password of site, phone, postal address, description
of oneself, date of birth, gender, marital status, date
of marriage (if you are married) number of children
(if you are a parent) and photograph (if you choose
to uploaded your picture)To sign in to the Site, you
will be asked to enter an e-mail address and password,
which we refer to as your Windows Live™ ID or
your Microsoft Passport Network credentials. After you
create your Windows Live ID, you can use the same credentials
to sign into many different Microsoft sites and services,
as well as those of select Microsoft partners, that
display the Windows Live ID or Microsoft Passport Network
logos. By signing in on one Microsoft site or service,
you may be automatically signed in when you visit other
Microsoft sites and services. To learn more about how
your credential information is used when you sign into
participating sites, please read the Microsoft Online
Privacy Statement at http://privacy.microsoft.com/.
We may collect information about your visit, including the pages you view,
the links you click and other actions taken in connection
with the Site. We also collect certain standard information
that your browser sends to every website you visit,
such as your IP address, browser type and language,
access times and referring Web site addresses.
Use of Your Personal Information
The personal information collected on this Site will
be used to operate the Site and to provide the service(s)
or carry out the transaction(s) you have requested or
authorized.
In support of these uses, Microsoft may use personal
information to provide you with more effective customer
service, to improve the Site and any related Microsoft
products or services, and to make the Site easier to
use by eliminating the need for you to repeatedly enter
the same information or by customizing the Site to your
particular preference or interests.
We may use your personal information to provide you with important information
about the product or service that you are using, including
critical updates and notifications. Additionally, with
your permission, we may send you information about other
Microsoft products and services, and/or share information
with Microsoft partners so they may send you information
about their products and services.
Microsoft occasionally hires other companies to provide limited services on
our behalf, such as Web site hosting, packaging, mailing
and delivering prizes, answering customer questions
about products and services, and sending information
about our products, special offers, and other new services.
We will only provide those companies the personal information
they need to deliver the service. They are required
to maintain the confidentiality of the information and
are prohibited from using that information for any other
purpose.
Microsoft may disclose personal information if required to do so by law or
in the good faith belief that such action is necessary
to (a) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with
legal process served on Microsoft or the Site; (b) protect
and defend the rights or property of Microsoft and our
family of Web sites; or (c) act in urgent circumstances
to protect the personal safety of users of Microsoft
products or members of the public.
Personal information collected on the Site may be stored and processed in the
United States or any other country in which Microsoft
or its affiliates, subsidiaries or agents maintain facilities,
and by using the Site, you consent to any such transfer
of information outside of your country. Microsoft abides
by the safe harbor framework as set forth by the U.S.
Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use,
and retention of data from the European Union.
Control of Your Personal Information
Except as otherwise described in this statement, personal information you provide
on the Site will not be shared outside of Microsoft
and its controlled subsidiaries and affiliates without
your permission.
Please be aware that this privacy statement and any choices you make on the
Site will not necessarily apply to personal information
you may have provided to Microsoft in the context of
other, separately operated, Microsoft products or services.
Communication Preferences
You can stop the delivery of future promotional e-mail from the site by following
the specific instructions in the e-mail you receive.
You also have the option of proactively making choices about the receipt of
promotional e-mail, telephone calls, and postal mail
from the site by signing into the site and accessing
the manage profile link. The profile page allows you
to choose whether you wish to receive marketing communications
from Windowsandme.com, and to subscribe or unsubscribe
to our newsletters.
These choices do not apply to the display of online advertising. Nor do they
apply to the receipt of mandatory service communications
that are considered part of certain Microsoft services,
which you may receive periodically unless you cancel
the service.
Access to Your Personal Information
You can review and edit the personal information you provided at this Site
by signing in to the site with your credentials (e-mail
address and password) and clicking on manage profile.
You can alternatively update your profile information,
change your password, view the unique ID associated
with your credentials, or close certain accounts by
visiting Windows Live Account
Services.
Security of Your Personal Information
Microsoft is committed to protecting the security of your personal information.
We use a variety of security technologies and procedures
to help protect your personal information from unauthorized
access, use, or disclosure. For example, we store the
personal information you provide on computer servers
with limited access that are located in controlled facilities.
Additionally, when we transmit sensitive personal information
(such as a credit card number) over the Internet, we
protect it through the use of encryption, such as the
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol.
Use of Cookies
We use cookies on this Site to ensure the integrity of the registration process
and to personalize the Site. A cookie is a small text
file that is placed on your hard disk by a Web page
server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver
viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned
to you, and can only be read by a Web server in the
domain that issued the cookie to you.
One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature
to save you time. For example, if you personalize a
web page, or navigate within a site, a cookie helps
the site to recall your specific information on subsequent
visits. This simplifies the process of delivering relevant
content, eases site navigation, and so on. When you
return to the web site, the information you previously
provided can be retrieved, so you can easily use the
site's features that you customized.
You have the ability to accept or decline cookies.
Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but
you can usually modify
your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer.
If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able
to use interactive features of this or other web sites
that depend on cookies.
Use of Web Beacons
Microsoft Web pages may contain electronic images known as Web beacons - sometimes
called single-pixel gifs - that may be used to assist
in delivering cookies on our sites and allow us to count
users who have visited those pages and to deliver co-branded
services. We may include Web beacons in promotional
e-mail messages or our newsletters in order to determine
whether messages have been opened and acted upon.
Microsoft may also employ Web beacons from third parties in order to help us
compile aggregated statistics and determine the effectiveness
of our promotional campaigns. We prohibit Web beacons
on our sites from being used by third parties to collect
or access your personal information.
Changes to this Privacy Statement
We may occasionally update this privacy statement. When we do, we will also
revise the "last updated" date at the top
of the privacy statement. For material changes to this
privacy statement, we will notify you either by placing
a prominent notice on the home page of our web site
or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage
you to periodically review this privacy statement to
stay informed about how we are helping to protect the
personal information we collect. Your continued use
of the service constitutes your agreement to this privacy
statement and any updates.
Contact Information
Microsoft welcomes your comments regarding this privacy statement. If you have
questions about this statement or believe that we have
not adhered to it, please contact us by clicking here
indprv@microsoft.com
Microsoft
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Microsoft Corporation
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Redmond, WA 98052-6399