Windows Live Privacy Supplement
(last updated October 2009)
view the privacy statement highlights
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.
This supplement contains additional information related to the following Windows Live services:
On This Page
 | Windows Live Toolbar |
| Windows Live Calendar and Contacts |
| Windows Live Mobile |
| Windows Live Admin Center and Managed Accounts |
| Windows Live OneCare Family Safety |
| Office Web Applications |
There are separate supplements for Search, Messenger, and Windows Live OneCare.
Windows Live Toolbar
Please see the Search Privacy Supplement for information about when using Search.
While you have Windows Live Toolbar installed, please note that new versions of the Toolbar may automatically be downloaded and installed on your computer. This keeps your Toolbar up-to-date and lets you take advantage of new features as soon as they are available.
Windows Live Toolbar users will be given a choice to allow Microsoft to collect additional information about your computer hardware, how you use the toolbar, the full URLs and your interactions with the pages you visit and your actions while reviewing search results. Such actions may include which search results are visited and how much time is spent on a particular search results page. None of this information is used to identify you and is used only in the aggregate to help improve this and other Microsoft products and services. You can change your choice at any time on the Toolbar options screen.
The Windows Live Toolbar also includes an optional feature that can automatically fill out forms on Web sites with information such as your address, passwords, and credit card information so that you do not have to repeatedly type the same information or remember multiple passwords. This information is encrypted and saved on your computer; it is not sent to Microsoft. The Toolbar will prompt you to create a single "form fill password." You must enter the form fill password every time you wish to automatically enter a stored credit card number and once per browser session to automatically enter a stored passwords.
Phishing Filter
The Microsoft Phishing Filter Add-in for the Windows Live Toolbar can warn you if the Web site you are visiting might be impersonating a trusted Web site. Phishing Filter does this by first checking the address of the Web site you are visiting against a list of Web site addresses stored on your computer that have been reported to Microsoft as legitimate ("legitimate list"). Addresses not on the legitimate list will be sent to Microsoft and checked against a frequently updated list of Web sites that have been reported to Microsoft as phishing, suspicious, or legitimate Web sites. Along with these addresses, some standard information from your computer such as IP address, browser type, and Phishing Filter version number are sent to Microsoft.
To help protect your privacy, the address information sent to Microsoft by the Phishing Filter is encrypted using SSL and limited to the domain and path of the web site. Other information that may be associated with the address, such as search terms, data you entered in forms, or cookies, will not be sent. For example, if you visited the Search Web site at http://search.live.com and entered "MySecret" as the search term, instead of sending the full address "http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=MySecret&FORM=QBHP", Phishing Filter would remove the search term and only send "http://search.live.com/results.aspx".
Statistics about your usage of Phishing Filter will also be sent to Microsoft such as the time and total number of Web sites browsed since an address was sent to Microsoft for analysis. This information, along with the information described above, will be used to analyze the performance and improve the quality of the Phishing Filter service. Microsoft will not use the information to identify you. Phishing Filter in the Windows Live Toolbar can be turned off by removing the Toolbar Phishing Filter Add-in from the Phishing Filter tab in toolbar options, or by uninstalling it in Windows XP through add/remove programs.
Windows Live Calendar and Contacts
When you use Windows Live Calendar and create contacts, the information you enter there about yourself and others is stored. This information may include: calendar appointments, e-mail address, first and last name, nickname, home address, work address, phone number, and birthday. You may view, edit, and share that information with your friends and acquaintances.
There are two ways your calendar data may be viewed by others: 1-to-1 sharing and public access. For 1-to-1 calendar sharing, with side-by-side appointment views, both you and your friend must be subscribers to a Windows Live or MSN service. In this case, your calendar is shared only with specific contacts; those contacts must authenticate with a Microsoft Passport and you must give permission to those contacts to view your calendar. For public calendar access, any person with access to the Internet may view your calendar if you decide to "publish" your calendar to calendar.live.com/your e-mail address.
Windows Live Mobile
When you sign up for Windows Live Mobile for your mobile phone or pager, Microsoft collects your Passport member name (e-mail address), mobile alert preferences, and other information about your mobile device necessary to provide the service. Microsoft uses this information to operate the Windows Live Mobile service and provide customer support to users when they need help. If you signed up for Windows Live Mobile at a co-branded site, your carrier will also receive your personal information. You may visit the Windows Live Mobile Web site at any time to view or change your personal information.
Windows Live Admin Center and Managed Accounts
Windows Live Custom Domains allows you to create and manage accounts within the domain(s) you own. To manage the accounts you create within your domain, go to http://admincenter.live.com and sign in.
If you do not already own a domain and wish to create one, Microsoft has partnered with several accredited Registrars which you can use to register your selected domain name(s). The Registrar you choose will ask you to supply registrant and administrative contact information such as name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address. As required by the Internet's governing organization (ICANN), the Registrar you use to register your domain name will make this contact information available in a public registry. To review the data in this registry, you can visit http://www.geektools.com/whois.php.
If you have an e-mail account on a domain that is managed through Windows Live Custom Domains, please be aware that the administrator (owner) of the domain can manage your account – including the ability to delete your account and associated e-mail inbox at any time, reset your password, or add your e-mail address to distribution lists.
Windows Live OneCare Family Safety
Windows Live OneCare Family Safety (“Family Safety”) is a parental controls service that helps parents manage what their children see online and the contacts their children can communicate with when using Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Hotmail, and Windows Live Spaces.
Family Safety includes:
| • | Content Filtering – Parents can specify Web sites their children can view, both by content-category and by URL. |
| • | Activity Reporting – Parents can choose whether to see reports (online or via e-mail) of the Web sites their children have visited and attempted to visit. |
| • | Application Restrictions – Parents can choose whether their children can use certain online services. |
| • | Contact Management – If their children are allowed to use Windows Live communications services such as Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Hotmail, and Windows Live Spaces, parents can select the contacts the children are allowed to communicate with via those services. |
Family Safety includes an administration Web site where parents can configure Family Safety settings and view activity reports. To use Content Filtering features for a computer that a child uses, a parent must install Content Filtering software on the computer and must ensure the child uses Windows Live ID accounts managed through Family Safety. The Content Filtering software is an optional part of the Windows Live Client Suite.
When browsing the Web, Family Safety generates periodic updates to an activity report and delivers it to the Family Safety Web site for parents to review.
Children can request access to blocked Web sites or contacts from their parents. Requests are stored for approximately 30 days or until parents approve or deny the request, whichever comes first.
When a child’s account is removed from Family Safety, activity reports will no longer be delivered. Deletion of activity report information takes approximately 30 days from the date of account removal.
Family Safety does not share information about children’s online activities with other products or services. Parents and their children will receive e-mails as part of the normal operation of the service (e.g., notifications of pending requests for access).
Office Web Applications
Office Web Applications allows you to view and edit supported Microsoft Office documents in your browser. Some Office features are not available in Office Web Applications. For example, there may be data in documents that you cannot view or edit. You can use other applications, such as Microsoft Office, to view and edit additional data.
To learn more about the Microsoft Office privacy, you can visit Privacy Statement Highlights for the Microsoft Office System.