Privacy Overview
Published: May 25, 2005
At Microsoft, we recognize that privacy is a critical element of a secure computing experience. We understand that our customers have high expectations about how we collect, use, and store their personal information. With this in mind, we create our policies and processes for designing, developing, and testing to ensure that we:
| • | Engineer privacy into our products during the product life cycle. |
| • | Implement privacy-based technology throughout our internal processes. |
| • | Ensure that our global privacy policies are properly executed throughout the company. |
| • | Provide leadership for the industry. |
As ubiquitous computing becomes more prevalent, so too does the amount of information and data people transmit. Microsoft believes that its customers have the right to control their personal information, have the right to be left alone, and have the right to a trusted experience in which they can rely on Microsoft technologies, services, and solutions.
In order to create a trusted environment for our customers, we develop our software, services, and processes with privacy in mind. We provide the opportunity for our customers to opt in or opt out when providing personal information. We also partner with other organizations and industry professionals to create policies and standards to safeguard the appropriate usage and security of personal information.
We are vigilant in our compliance with global privacy laws; our privacy policy is, in part, derived from privacy laws from around the world. We follow the lead of these privacy laws, and apply those standards globally. No matter where our customers live or work, we are striving to help them protect their privacy.
