Xbox Live and Xbox.com Privacy Supplement

Note that this page is a supplement to the Microsoft Online Privacy Statement . In order to understand the data collection and use practices relevant for a particular site or service, you should read both the Microsoft Online Privacy Statement and any applicable supplement.

Xbox Live and Xbox.com Privacy Supplement

last updated: January 2006

When you create an Xbox Live account, you will be asked to create a Gamertag. You also may be allowed to pick separate nicknames to use in-game. These Gamertags and nicknames will be shown to other players when you are signed in to Xbox Live and may be displayed with your game stats and presence status, as displayed in-game and/or on the Web. Since these names may be publicly displayed, you should not use your personal information when creating them. You may also have the opportunity to add attachments such as of photos, graphics, text, or audio to your stats information. If you do this, those attachments will be able to be viewed or heard by other users of the service.

We may collect information about your usage of Xbox Live. This information can include such activities as: times you sign-in to and sign-off from Xbox Live; games that you have played on Xbox Live; content you purchase on Xbox Live; and game score statistics. If you use an Xbox 360 console that includes a storage device (hard drive or memory unit), and if you play offline or have never signed-in to Xbox Live, usage data will be stored on the storage device of your Xbox console and sent to Microsoft the next time you sign in to the Xbox Live service. However, in the Xbox Live Dashboard, you can delete this information from your storage device prior to connecting to Xbox Live, or block it from being displayed to other users.

When your Xbox is connected to the Internet, Microsoft is able to identify which Xbox console and which version of the Xbox Dashboard you are currently using. This information is used specifically for the purpose of alerting Xbox Live to provide you with appropriate auto-updates to the Xbox Dashboard, and to protect the security of Xbox Live.

If you are a subscriber of the Xbox Live service, your gamertag, nicknames and statistics such as high scores will be visible to other Xbox Live subscribers through Xbox Live and on the Xbox.com Web site. Other data such as your gamer picture, motto, country, additional statistics, such as the games you play, and your online presence, may be available to other subscribers; however you can opt-out of sharing this data, or limit it to those on your Xbox Live friends list. If you use Xbox 360, your gamertag will be automatically linked with your Passport Network credentials so that when you sign into Xbox.com, Bungie.net, or other related gaming sites, your experience will be personalised and you will have access to additional features. If you use the original Xbox, you will have the opportunity to manually link your Xbox Live gamertag to your Passport Network credentials in the My Xbox section of the Web site. The linkage between your gamertag and Passport unique ID may be also shared with third party game sites in order for those sites to provide you with a personalised experience when you sign in.

You can view or edit your personal information, or change your contact and data sharing preferences, at any time on the My Xbox page on Xbox.com or on your console by selecting Privacy Settings under Edit Gamer Profile on Xbox 360, or selecting the Info Sharing option in Account Management for the Original Xbox Live dashboard. You can cancel your account to Xbox Live by calling Xbox Live Customer Support at 1-800-4MY-XBOX.

Family Settings and Parental Consent

If you use Xbox Live, you can choose to set up parental controls for the other users of that account via the Family Settings features. Children's usage information, such as games played, download history, and friends list, may be made available to the owner of the parent account associated with the child. Users of Xbox.com that are identified as children are not permitted to create an account on the Web site unless they already have an Xbox Live account.

Children under the age of 13 cannot create an Xbox Live account without parental consent. Account creation, which enables the use of Xbox Live and certain Xbox.com features, will require the owner of the associated parent account to consent to the collection of information about the child. This will involve the collection and verification of a credit card number in order to help determine that the owner of that parent account is an adult. Under family Settings in the Xbox Live Dashboard, parents can change or revoke the consent choices previously made, and review, edit or request the deletion of their children's personal information. We will not knowingly ask children under the age of 13 to provide more information than is reasonably necessary to provide our services. If we change this privacy statement in a way that expands the collection, use or disclosure of a child's personal information for which the parent has previously consented, the parent will be notified and we will obtain the parent's additional consent prior to implementing the change with respect to that child.