Do you know which of your computer's data travels to Microsoft's servers? Who does Microsoft share your data with? The company in the explanations in the "Microsoft Privacy Statement" states: (the page was last updated in October 2015).
Microsoft collects data to operate effectively and to provide you with the best experiences with our services.
You provide some of this data directly, such as when you create a Microsoft account, submit a search query to Bing, give a voice command to Cortana, send a document to OneDrive, fill out a survey, or contact us for support. We get some of it by recording how you interact with our services, for example by using technologies like cookies, and by receiving error reports or usage data from software running on your device.
[pullquote]When you are asked to provide personal data, you can refuse. But if you choose not to provide data that is necessary to provide a service, you may not be able to use some features or services. [/pullquote] We also receive data from third parties (including other companies). For example, we supplement the data we collect by purchasing demographic data from other companies. We also use services from other companies to determine location, based on your IP address, in order to tailor certain services to your location.
The data we collect depends on the services and features you use, and includes the following.
Name and contact information. We collect your first and last name, email address, mailing address, phone number, and other similar contact information.
Credentials. We collect passwords, password hints, and similar security information used for account access and authentication.
Demographics. We collect data about you, such as your age, gender, country, and preferred language.
Interests and Favorites. We collect information about your interests and favorites, such as the team you follow in a sports app, the stocks you track in a financial app, or the favorite cities you add to a weather app. In addition to information you provide yourself, your interests and favorites may also be inferred or derived from other data we collect.
Payment method information. We collect data necessary to process your payments when you make purchases, such as your payment method number (such as a credit card number), as well as the security code associated with your payment method.
Usage Data. We collect data about how you interact with our services. This includes data such as the features you use, the things you purchase, the websites you visit, and the search terms you enter. This also includes data about your device, and the network you use to connect to our services, including your IP address, device identifiers (such as the IMEI number for phones), regional and language settings. It includes information about the operating systems and other software installed on your device, including product keys. It also includes information about the performance of the services, as well as any problems you experience with them.
Contacts and relationships. We collect data about your contacts and relationships when you use a Microsoft service to manage contacts, communicate, or interact with other people or organizations.
Location Data. We collect data about your location, which may be either precise or imprecise. Precise location data may be Global Positioning System (GPS) data, as well as data from nearby cell towers and Wi-Fi hotspots, which we collect when you enable location-based services or features. Inaccurate location data includes, for example, a location derived from your IP address, or data that shows where you are less precisely, such as at the city or zip code level.
Content. We collect content from your files and communications, when necessary, to provide you with the services you use. For example, if you receive an email using Outlook.com, we need to collect the content of that email in order to deliver it to your inbox, to display it to you, so you can respond to it, and we store it for you until you choose to delete it. Examples of this data include: the content of your documents, photos, music, or videos that you upload to a Microsoft service, such as OneDrive, as well as the content of your communications sent or received using Microsoft services, such as Skype or Outlook.com, including:
- the subject line and body of an email message,
- the text or other content of an instant message,
- recording audio and video from a video message, and
- the recording and transcription of a voice message you receive, or a text message you dictate.
We also collect the content of messages you send to us, such as comments and reviews you write about the product, or questions and information you provide to customer support. When you contact us, for customer support for example, your phone conversations or chat sessions with our representatives may be monitored and recorded. If you visit our stores, your image may be captured by our security cameras.
You have choices about the data we collect. When you are asked to provide personal data, you can refuse. But if you choose not to provide data that is necessary to provide a service, you may not be able to use some features or services.
The service-specific sections below describe Microsoft's data collection practices that apply to your use of those services.
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