Microsoft uses the data we collect to provide you the services we offer, which includes using data to improve and personalize your experiences. We also may use the data to communicate with you, for example, informing you about your account, security updates and product information. And we use data to help make the ads we show you more relevant to you. However, we do not use what you say in email, chat, video calls or voice mail, or your documents, photos or other personal files to target ads to you.
Microsoft uses the data we collect for three basic purposes, described in more detail below: (1) to operate our business and provide (including improving and personalizing) the services we offer, (2) to send communications, including promotional communications, and (3) to display advertising. Cortana can use the favorite sports teams you add to the MSN Sports app to provide information relevant to your interests, or Windows Store can use information about how you use a variety of services to make personalized app recommendations. However, to enhance privacy, we have built in technological and procedural safeguards designed to prevent certain data combinations. For example, we store data we collect from you when you are unauthenticated (not signed in) separately from any account information that directly identifies you, such as your name, email address or phone number. Providing and improving our services. We use data to provide and improve the services we offer and perform essential business operations. This includes operating the services, maintaining and improving the performance of the services, including developing new features, research, and providing customer support. Examples of such uses include the following. Providing the Services. We use data to carry out your transactions with us and to provide our services to you. Often, those services include personalized features and recommendations that enhance your productivity and enjoyment, and tailor your service experiences based on your activities, interests and location.
Customer support. We use data to diagnose service problems, repair customers' devices, and provide other customer care and support services. Product activation. We use data - including device and application type, location, and unique device, application, network and subscription identifiers - in order to activate software and devices that require activation. Service Improvement. We use data to continually improve our services, including adding new features or capabilities, such as using search queries and clicks in Bing to improve the relevancy of the search results, or using audio recordings from voice input features to improve speech recognition accuracy. Security, Safety and Dispute Resolution. We use data to protect the security and safety of our services and our customers, to detect and prevent fraud, to confirm the validity of software licenses, to resolve disputes and enforce our agreements. Our security features and services can disrupt the operation of malicious software and notify users if malicious software is found on their devices. Our communications and file syncing services systematically scan content in an automated manner to identify suspected spam, viruses, abusive actions, or URLs that have been flagged as fraud, phishing or malware links. We may block delivery of a communication or remove content if it violates our terms. Business Operations. We use data to develop aggregate analysis and business intelligence that enable us to operate, protect, make informed decisions, and report on the performance of our business.
Communications. We use data we collect to deliver and personalize our communications with you. For example, we may contact you by email or other means to inform you when a subscription is ending, let you know when security updates are available, remind you about items left in your online shopping cart, update you or inquire about a service or repair request, invite you to participate in a survey, or tell you that you need to take action to keep your account active. Additionally, you can sign up for email subscriptions and choose whether you wish to receive promotional communications from Microsoft by email, SMS, physical mail, and telephone. For information about managing email subscriptions and promotional communications, please visit the Access and Controls section of this privacy statement. Advertising. Many of our services are supported by advertising. We use the data we collect to help select the ads Microsoft delivers - whether on our own services or on services offered by third parties. The ads we select may be based on your current location, search query, or the content you are viewing. Other ads are targeted based on your likely interests or other information that we learn about you over time using demographic data, search queries, interests and favorites, usage data, and location data - which we refer to as "interest-based advertising" in this statement. Microsoft does not use what you say in email, chat, video calls or voice mail, or your documents, photos or other personal files to target ads to you. You may opt out of receiving interest-based advertising from Microsoft by visiting our opt-out page .Access and Controls section of this privacy statement. Further details regarding our advertising-related uses of data include:
Children and Advertising. We do not deliver interest-based advertising to children whose birthdate in their Microsoft account identifies them as under 13 years of age. Data Retention. For interest-based advertising, we retain data for no more than 13 months, unless we obtain your consent to retain the data longer. Data Sharing. In some cases, we share with advertisers reports about the data we have collected on their sites or ads. We may also share data directly with service providers to permit them to provide services on our behalf or to partner with us in selecting and serving ads for our advertising partners. For instance, Microsoft uses a service provider to match your Microsoft cookie ID and account data with data an advertiser may have about you (such as your recent purchases from them). This is done so the advertiser can reach you with an ad it thinks may be relevant to you. However, the service provider we use acts as a trusted third party and does not share any personal data that Microsoft or the advertiser has about you. Data Collected by Other Advertising Companies. Advertisers sometimes include their own web beacons (or those of their other advertising partners) within their advertisements that we display, enabling them to set and read their own cookie . Additionally, Microsoft partners with third-party ad companies to help provide some of our advertising services, and we also allow other third-party ad companies to display advertisements on our sites. These third parties may place cookies on your computer and collect data about your online activities across websites or online services. These companies currently include, but are not limited to: A9 , AOL Advertising , AppNexus , Criteo , MediaMath , nugg.adAG , Rocket Fuel , Yahoo! . You may find more information on each company's practices, including the choices it offers, by clicking on the company names above. Many of them are also members of the NAI or DAA , which each provide a simple way to opt out of ad targeting from participating companies.
We share your personal data with your consent or as necessary to complete any transaction or provide any service you have requested or authorized. We also share data with Microsoft-controlled affiliates and subsidiaries; with vendors working on our behalf; when required by law or to respond to legal process; to protect our customers; to protect lives; to maintain the security of our services; and to protect the rights or property of Microsoft.
We share your personal data with your consent or as necessary to complete any transaction or provide any service you have requested or authorized. For example, we share your content with third parties when you tell us to do so, such as when you send an email to a friend, share photos and documents on OneDrive, or link accounts with another service. When you provide payment data to make a purchase, we will share payment data with banks and other entities that process payment transactions or provide other financial services, and for fraud prevention and credit risk reduction.
comply with applicable law or respond to valid legal process, including from law enforcement or other government agencies;
protect our customers, for example to prevent spam or attempts to defraud users of the services, or to help prevent the loss of life or serious injury of anyone;
operate and maintain the security of our services, including to prevent or stop an attack on our computer systems or networks; or
protect the rights or property of Microsoft, including enforcing the terms governing the use of the services - however, if we receive information indicating that someone is using our services to traffic in stolen intellectual or physical property of Microsoft, we will not inspect a customer's private content ourselves, but we may refer the matter to law enforcement.
For more information about data we disclose in response to requests from law enforcement and other government agencies, please see our Law Enforcement Transparency Report, available at http://microsoft.com/about/corporatecitizenship/en-us/reporting/transparency .
Microsoft uses cookies (small text files placed on your device) and similar technologies to provide our services and help collect data. Cookies allow us, among other things, to store your preferences and settings; enable you to sign-in; provide interest-based advertising; combat fraud; and analyze how our services are performing. Microsoft apps use other identifiers, such as the advertising ID in Windows, for similar purposes.
Microsoft uses cookies (small text files placed on your device) and similar technologies to provide our services and help collect data. The text in a cookie often consists of a string of numbers and letters that uniquely identifies your computer, but it can contain other information as well. Microsoft apps use other identifiers, such as the advertising ID in Windows, for similar purposes, and many of our websites and applications also contain web beacons or other similar technologies, as described below. Our Use of Cookies and Similar Technologies
Storing your Preferences and Settings. Settings that enable our services to operate correctly or that maintain your preferences over time may be stored on your device. For example, if you enter your city or postal code to get local news or weather information on a Microsoft site, we may store that data in a cookie so that you will see the relevant local information when you return to the site. If you opt out of interest-based advertising, we store your opt-out preference in a cookie on your device. Sign-in and Authentication. When you sign into a site using your personal Microsoft account , we store a unique ID number, and the time you signed in, in an encrypted cookie on your device. This cookie allows you to move from page to page within the site without having to sign in again on each page. Interest-Based Advertising. Microsoft uses cookies to collect data about your online activity and identify your interests so that we can provide advertising that is most relevant to you. You can opt out of receiving interest-based advertising from Microsoft as described in the Access and Control section of this privacy statement. Analytics. In order to provide our services, we use cookies and other identifiers to gather usage and performance data. For example, we use cookies to count the number of unique visitors to a web page or service and to develop other statistics about the operations of our services.
Some of the cookies we commonly use are listed in the following chart. This list is not exhaustive, but it is intended to illustrate the main reasons we typically set cookies. If you visit one of our websites, the site may set some or all of the following cookies:
Cookie name Description MUID Identifies unique web browsers visiting Microsoft sites. It is used for advertising, site analytics and other operational purposes. ANON Contains the ANID, a unique identifier derived from your Microsoft account, which is used for advertising, personalization, and operational purposes. It is also used to preserve your choice to opt out of interest-based advertising from Microsoft, if you have chosen to associate the opt-out with your Microsoft account. CC Contains a country code as determined from your IP address. RPSTAuth, MSNRPSAuth, KievRPSAuth Helps to authenticate you when you sign in with your Microsoft account. NAP Contains an encrypted version of your country, postal code, age, gender, language and occupation, if known, based on your Microsoft account profile. MH Appears on co-branded sites where Microsoft is partnering with an advertiser. This cookie identifies the advertiser so the right ad is selected. ACH01 Maintains information about which ads you clicked on and where you clicked on the ad. TOptOut Records your decision not to receive interest-based advertising delivered by Microsoft.
In addition to the cookies Microsoft sets when you visit our websites, third parties may also set cookies when you visit Microsoft sites. In some cases, that is because we have hired the third party to provide services on our behalf, such as site analytics. In other cases, it is because our web pages contain content or ads from third parties, such as videos, news content or ads delivered by other ad networks. Because your browser connects to those third parties' web servers to retrieve that content, those third parties are able to set or read their own cookies on your device and may collect information about your online activities across websites or online services. How to Control Cookies Settings > Privacy > Cookies. Instructions for blocking or deleting cookies in other browsers may be available in each browser's privacy or help documentation. Access and Control section of this privacy statement. Our Use of Web Beacons and Analytics Services Other Similar Technologies In addition to standard cookies and web beacons, our services can also use other similar technologies to store and read data files on your computer. This is typically done to maintain your preferences or to improve speed and performance by storing certain files locally. But, like standard cookies, these technologies can also be used to store a unique identifier for your computer, which can then be used to track behavior. These technologies include Local Shared Objects (or "Flash cookies") and Silverlight Application Storage. Local Shared Objects or "Flash cookies." Web sites that use Adobe Flash technologies may use Local Shared Objects or "Flash cookies" to store data on your computer. To manage or block Flash cookies, go to http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager.html . Silverlight Application Storage. Web sites or applications that use Microsoft Silverlight technology also have the ability to store data by using Silverlight Application Storage. To learn how to manage or block such storage, see the Silverlight section of this statement.
With a Microsoft account, you can sign into Microsoft services, as well as third-party services. Signing into your account can enable improved personalization, provide seamless and consistent experiences across services and devices, and help you access and use cloud data storage and other enhanced features and settings.
With a Microsoft account, you can sign into Microsoft services, as well as those of select Microsoft partners. When you create your own Microsoft account, we refer to that account as a personal Microsoft account. When your account is created and provided to you by your organization, such as your school or employer, using Microsoft's Azure Active Directory (AAD), we refer to that account as a work or school account.Creating and using your personal Microsoft account. When you create a personal Microsoft account, you will be asked for certain personal data and we will assign a unique ID number to identify your account and associated information. While some services, such as those involving payment, require a real name, you can sign into and use some Microsoft services without providing your real name. Some data you provide, such as your display name, email address and phone number, can be used to help others find and connect with you within Microsoft services. For example, people who know your display name, email address or phone number can use it to search for you on Skype and send you an invite to connect with them. Signing in. When you sign into your Microsoft account, we create a record of your sign-in, which includes the date and time, information about the service you signed into, your sign-in name, the unique number assigned to your account, a unique identifier assigned to your device, your IP address, and your operating system and browser version. Signing into Microsoft. Signing into your account enables improved personalization, provides seamless and consistent experiences across services and devices, and allows you to access and use cloud data storage and other enhanced features and settings. When you sign into your account, you will stay signed in until you sign out. If you add your Microsoft account to a Windows device (version 8 or higher), Windows will automatically sign you into services that use Microsoft account that you access on that device. When you are signed in, some services will display your name or username and your profile photo (if you have added one to your profile) as part of your use of Microsoft services, including in your communications, social interactions and public posts.Signing into third-party services. If you sign into a third-party service with your Microsoft account, you will be asked to consent to share the account data required by that service. The service will also receive the version number assigned to your account (a new version number is assigned each time you change your sign-in data); and whether your account has been deactivated. The third party can use or share your data according to its own practices and policies. You should carefully review the privacy statement for each service you sign into in order to determine how it will use the data it collects. Personal Microsoft accounts received from third parties. If you received your personal Microsoft account from a third party, like an Internet service provider, that third party may have rights over your account, including the ability to access or delete your Microsoft account. You should carefully review any additional terms the third party provided you to understand what it can do with your account. Connecting your personal Microsoft account to your social network accounts. You may connect your personal Microsoft account to your accounts on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn in order to access data from those social networks from within Microsoft services. If you choose to do so, we will store data about your social network accounts on our servers so that we can display updated data from your social network account. You can disconnect a social network account from your personal Microsoft account at any time at https://profile.live.com/services . Using work or school accounts. You can sign into certain Microsoft services with a work or school Microsoft account. If required by your organization, you will also be asked to provide a phone number or an alternative email address for additional security verification. If you sign in to Microsoft services with a work or school account, the owner of the domain associated with your email address may control and administer your account, and access and process your data, including the contents of your communications and files. Your use of the services may be subject to your organization's policies, if any. Microsoft is not responsible for the privacy or security practices of these organizations, which may differ from those of Microsoft.
Cortana is your personal assistant. Cortana works best when it can learn about you and your activities by using data from your device, your personal Microsoft account, third-party services and other Microsoft services. You can choose whether to enable Cortana, and you can turn Cortana off at any time.
Cortana is your personal assistant. Cortana works best when it can learn about you and your activities by using data from your device, your personal Microsoft account, third-party services and other Microsoft services. To enable Cortana to provide personalized experiences and relevant suggestions, Microsoft collects and uses various types of data, such as your device location, data from your calendar, the apps you use, data from your emails and text messages, who you call, your contacts and who you interact with on your device. Cortana also learns about you by collecting data about how you use your device and other Microsoft services, such as your music, alarm settings, whether the lock screen is on, what you view and purchase, your browse and Bing search history, and more. You can manage what data Cortana uses, and what it knows about you in Cortana Settings and Notebook. More about the individual features, and how to manage them can be found at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=522360 . Location services. Cortana regularly collects and uses your current location, location history, and other location signals (such as locations tagged on photos you upload to OneDrive). This location data is used to give you the most relevant notices and results and to make suggestions that help save you time, such as traffic and location based reminders. Cortana can only work if location services are on, so if you turn them off, Cortana will be disabled. Text messages and email. Cortana accesses your messages to do a variety of things such as: allowing you to add events to your calendar, apprising you of important messages, and keeping you up to date on events or other things that are important to you, like package or flight tracking. Cortana also uses your messages to help you with planning around your events and offers other helpful suggestions and recommendations. Communications History. Cortana learns who is most important to you from your call, text message, and email history. This is used to keep track of people most relevant to you and your preferred methods of communication, flag important messages for you and improve other Cortana services such as speech recognition. Speech and Input Personalization. To help Cortana better understand the way you speak and your voice commands, speech data is sent to Microsoft to build personalized speech models and improve speech recognition and user intent understanding. On Windows devices, Cortana can only work if Input Personalization is on, so if you turn it off, Cortana will be disabled. See the Windows Input Personalization section for more information. Microsoft apps and services. Cortana uses data collected through other Microsoft services to provide personalized suggestions. For example, Cortana uses data collected by the MSN Sports app so it can automatically display information about the teams you follow. It also learns your favorite places from Microsoft's Maps app so it can offer better suggestions. Your interests in Cortana's Notebook can be used by other Microsoft services, such as Bing or MSN, to customize your interests, preferences, and favorites in those experiences as well. Third-party services. Cortana also allows you to connect to third-party services for additional personalized experiences based upon data from the third-party service. For example, choosing to sign into Facebook or LinkedIn within Cortana allows Microsoft to access certain Facebook or LinkedIn data so that Cortana and Bing can give you more personalized recommendations. You can manage Cortana's connections to third-party services in the Cortana Notebook. Browsing history. If you choose to send your full browsing history to Microsoft in Microsoft Edge (see the Microsoft Edge description in the Windows section of this statement), Cortana can provide suggestions based on the sites you visit in Microsoft Edge. Cortana won't collect information about sites you visit in InPrivate tabs. Search history. Your Bing search queries - even if Cortana does the searching for you - are treated like any other Bing search queries and are used as described in the Bing section.
Groove Music lets you easily play your music collection, make playlists, buy music and stream custom radio stations. Microsoft Movies & TV allows you to play your video collection, and rent or buy movies and TV episodes. Microsoft will use data about the content you play in order to help you discover content that may interest you.
Groove Music lets you easily play your music collection, make playlists, buy music and stream custom radio stations. Microsoft Movies & TV allows you to play your video collection, and rent or buy movies and TV episodes. These services were formerly offered as Xbox Music and Video. Silverlight section of this privacy statement for more information.
Microsoft Health services include the Microsoft Band devices, Microsoft Health apps, HealthVault, and other related services. The Band helps you keep track of data like heart rate and steps taken. The Band can also use Cortana to take notes and receive notifications from your phone. The Microsoft Health app sends data to Microsoft's servers and allows you to manage and control the data. The app provides a channel for other apps on your phone to send notifications to the Band. HealthVault is a personal health platform that lets you gather, edit, add to, and store health data online. With HealthVault, you can also choose to share your health data with family, caregivers, and health care professionals.
MSN services include websites and a suite of apps. We collect information about the installation of MSN Apps and the devices on which they are installed. We also collect data about how you interact with MSN services, such as usage frequency and content viewed.
MSN services include websites and a suite of apps, including MSN News, Weather, Sports, and Money, and previous versions of the apps branded as Bing (together, "MSN Apps"). The MSN Apps are available on various platforms, including Windows, iOS, and Android. MSN services are also included within other Microsoft services, including the Microsoft Edge browser. opt-out page .
OneDrive lets you store and access your files on virtually any device. You can also share and collaborate on your files with others. Some versions of the OneDrive application enable you to access both your personal OneDrive by signing in with your personal Microsoft account and your OneDrive for Business by signing in with your work or school Microsoft account as part of your organization's use of Office 365.
OneDrive lets you store and access your files on virtually any device. You can also share and collaborate on your files with others. Some versions of the OneDrive application enable you to access both your personal OneDrive by signing in with your personal Microsoft account and your OneDrive for Business by signing in with your work or school Microsoft account as part of your organization's use of Office 365.
Microsoft Silverlight helps you to access and enjoy rich content on the Web. Silverlight enables websites and services to store data on your device. Other Silverlight features involve connecting to Microsoft to obtain updates, or to Microsoft or third-party servers to play protected digital content.
Microsoft Silverlight helps you to access and enjoy rich content on the Web. Silverlight enables websites and services to store data on your device. Other Silverlight features involve connecting to Microsoft to obtain updates, or to Microsoft or third-party servers to play protected digital content. Silverlight Configuration tool. You can make choices about these features in the Silverlight Configuration tool. To access the Silverlight Configuration tool, right click on content that is currently being displayed by Silverlight and select Silverlight . You can also run the Silverlight Configuration tool directly. In Windows 10, for example, you can access the tool by searching for "Microsoft Silverlight." Silverlight application storage. Silverlight-based applications can store data files locally on your computer for a variety of purposes, including saving your custom settings, storing large files for graphically intensive features (such as games, maps, and images), and storing content that you create within certain applications. You can turn off or configure application storage in the Silverlight Configuration tool. Silverlight updates. Silverlight will periodically check a Microsoft server for updates to provide you with the latest features and improvements. A small file containing information about the latest Silverlight version will be downloaded to your computer and compared to your currently installed version. If a newer version is available, it will be downloaded and installed on your computer. You can turn off or configure updates in the Silverlight Configuration tool. Digital Rights Management. Silverlight uses Microsoft Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology to help protect the rights of content owners. If you access DRM-protected content (such as music or video) with Silverlight, it will request media usage rights from a rights server on the Internet. In order to provide a seamless playback experience, you will not be prompted before Silverlight sends the request to the rights server. When requesting media usage rights, Silverlight will provide the rights server with an ID for the DRM-protected content file and basic data about your device, including data about the DRM components on your device such as their revision and security levels, and a unique identifier for your device. DRM updates. In some cases, accessing DRM-protected content will require an update to Silverlight or to the DRM components on your device. When you attempt to play content that requires a DRM update, Silverlight will send a request to a Microsoft server containing basic data about your device, including information about the DRM components on your computer such as their revision and security levels, troubleshooting data, and a unique identifier for your device. The Microsoft server uses this identifier to return a unique DRM update for your device, which will then be installed by Silverlight. You can turn off or configure DRM component updates on the Playback tab in the Silverlight Configuration tool.
Skype lets you send and receive voice, video and instant message communications. As part of providing these features, Microsoft collects, uses and shares personal data, including data about your communications, as described in more detail in Learn More.
Skype lets you send and receive voice, video and instant message communications. Both Microsoft Corporation and Skype Communications S.à.r.l. (a wholly-owned Microsoft subsidiary based in Luxembourg) are data controllers for Skype, and references to Microsoft in this section refer to both legal entities. Skype profile. To enable other people to find you on Skype (or products that interact with Skype, such as Skype for Business), depending on your profile settings, your Skype profile is included in the search directory. Your profile includes your username, avatar, and any other data you choose to add to your profile or display to others. Partner companies. To make Skype available to more people, we partner with other companies to allow Skype to be offered via those companies’ services. If you use Skype through a company other than Microsoft, that company’s privacy policy governs how it handles your data. To comply with applicable law or respond to valid legal process, or to help our partner company or local operator comply or respond, we may access, disclose and preserve your data. That data could include, for example, your private content, such as the content of your instant messages, stored video messages, voicemails or file transfers. Skype Manager. Skype Manager lets you manage a group’s (such as your family’s) Skype usage from one central place. When you set up a group, you will be the Skype Manager Administrator and can see the patterns of usage, including detailed information, like traffic data and details of purchases, of other members of the group who have consented to such access. If you add information like your name, other people in the group will be able to see it. Members of the group can withdraw consent for Skype Manager on their account page at www.skype.com . Skype marketing affiliate program. So that more people can learn about Skype, we encourage other companies and organizations to sign up as marketing affiliates to refer people to Skype. When the people they refer do things like buy Skype Credit, we pay them. We partner with another company, Conversant Media, to operate our affiliate network. Microsoft, our network partner, and the marketing affiliates use cookies and web beacons so we can know which marketing affiliate made a successful referral and earned a payment. Microsoft doesn’t control the cookies that the marketing affiliates set. For more information on the privacy practices of our network partner, visit http://www.conversantmedia.com/legal/privacy .Push notifications. To let you know of incoming calls, chats and other messages, Skype apps use the notification service on your device. For many devices, these services are provided by a another company. To tell you who is calling, for example, or to give you the first few words of the new chat, Skype has to tell the notification service so that they can provide the notification to you. The company providing the notification service on your device will use this information in accordance with their own terms and privacy policy. Microsoft is not responsible for the data collected by company providing the notification service. If you don’t want to use the notification services for incoming Skype calls and messages, turn it off in the settings found in the Skype application or your device. Skype advertising. Some Skype software includes interest-based advertising, so that you’re more likely to see ads you’ll like. In some versions of the software, you can opt out of interest-based advertising in the privacy options or account settings menu. If you sign in to Skype with a Microsoft account, you can opt out of interest-based advertising at http://choice.microsoft.com. If you opt out, you’ll still see ads displayed in the Skype software based on your country of residence, language preference, and IP address location, but other data is not used for ad targeting.Translation features. To help you communicate with people in different languages, some Skype apps offer audio and/or text translation features. When you use translation features, your voice and text data are used to provide and improve Microsoft speech recognition and translation services.
Xbox Live is Microsoft's online gaming and entertainment service and social network. Xbox services can be accessed from a variety of devices, including Xbox consoles, PCs (including via xbox.com and the Xbox app), and mobile devices. Microsoft collects data about your use of Xbox services, which can include information collected by the Kinect sensor. Some data, such as your gamertag and game scores, can be seen by other users.
Xbox consoles are hardware devices that you can use to access and play games, movies, music, and other forms of digital entertainment. Xbox Live (including Games for Windows Live) is Microsoft's online gaming and entertainment service and social network. It provides ways for you to connect with your friends on Xbox Live and other gaming and social networks. Xbox services can be accessed from a variety of devices, including Xbox consoles, PCs (including via xbox.com and the Xbox app), and mobile devices.
When you sign in and sign out, the games you play, your game and score statistics, and the purchases you make and content you obtain.
Performance data about the Xbox services, your device and your network connection, including any hardware or software errors that occur.
If you use the Xbox console with Kinect, data about how you use Kinect. See below for more information about Kinect data collection.
All such data is stored with the Xbox console's unique identifier and associated with your personal data. When your Xbox is connected to the Internet, we identify which console and which version of the Xbox operating system you are currently using. Xbox Live data viewable by other users. Your gamertag (Xbox live nickname), game and score statistics, achievements, presence (whether you're signed into Xbox Live), and other data about your activity on Xbox Live can be seen by other users on Xbox Live or other properties associated with Xbox Live (including those of partner companies). For example, your gamertag and scores that show on game leaderboards are considered public and can't be hidden. For other types of data, you can adjust your privacy settings on the console or at xbox.com to limit or block the sharing with other users. Xbox Live data shared with game or app publishers. When you use an Xbox Live-enabled game or app, the publisher or service provider for that game or app has access to data about your usage of Xbox Live and that game or app, and may disclose or display (such as on leaderboards) such data. This data includes, for example, your game scores, data about your game play sessions (for example, types of vehicles used in the game), your presence on Xbox Live, the time you spend playing the game or app, rankings, statistics, gamer profiles, avatars, and other content that you may create or submit within the game or app. Linking your Xbox Live account to non-Microsoft accounts. Some of the games or apps found on Xbox Live are delivered by partner companies, which may require that you create a non-Microsoft account and sign-in credentials to use that game or app. If you choose to link your Microsoft account with your account with a partner company, Microsoft will share limited account information with that company. Such account information can include name, address, email and date of birth but will not include any credit card or other payment information. For games that enable in-game communications, the game publisher will also have access to the content of in-game communications when you are signed into your account with the publisher. Kinect. The Kinect sensor is a combination of camera, microphone, and infrared sensor that can enable motions and voice to be used to control gameplay and to navigate through the service. For example:
If you choose, the camera can be used to sign you into the service automatically using facial recognition. To do this it takes an image of your face and measures distances between key points to create and store a numeric value that represents only you. This data stays on the console and is not shared with anyone, and you can choose to delete this data from your console at any time.
For gameplay, Kinect will map distances between your body's joints to create a stick figure representation of you that helps Kinect enable gameplay. If you are playing online, we collect those numeric values to enable and improve gameplay and the gaming experience. Kinect also detects specific hand gestures intended to do simple system interactions (such as menu navigation, pan/zoom and scroll).
For some fitness games, Xbox can use the Kinect sensor to estimate your exercise data, including estimates such as your heart rate during a certain activity or the number of calories burned during a workout.
Kinect's microphones enable voice chat between players during gameplay. They also enable voice commands for control of the console, game or app, or to enter search terms. See below for additional details on voice data collection.
The Kinect sensor can also be used for audio and video communications through services such as Skype .
To learn more about Kinect, please visit the Kinect FAQ . Communications monitoring. Xbox Live includes communications features such as text-based messaging and online voice chat between players during gameplay. In order to help provide a safe gaming environment and enforce the Microsoft Code of Conduct , we will collect, review, and monitor a sample of these communications, including Xbox Live game chats and party chat communications in live-hosted multiplayer gameplay sessions offered through the services. Voice data for service improvement. We collect, and use for service improvement, voice search requests or samples of voice commands occurring while using Kinect. These data are stored separately from your Xbox profile. GameDVR. Any player in a multiplayer game session can use GameDVR to record their view of the gameplay taking place in that session. The recording can capture your in-game character and gamertag in the game clips created by other players in the gameplay session. Note that if a player uses GameDVR on a PC, audio chat may also be captured in a game clip. Microsoft can review game clips for violations of the Microsoft Code of Conduct , even if your game clip sharing setting is set to Block. Xbox Live Rewards. Xbox Live Rewards, available at rewards.xbox.com , is a program you can join to receive Xbox credits for being active on the services. You must agree to receive promotional communications from the Rewards program as a condition of joining. You sign into Rewards using your Microsoft account, and the program collects personal data including first name, last name, gamertag, and demographic information. The program is hosted and operated by HelloWorld, a Microsoft vendor. The data collected is stored by the vendor on behalf of Microsoft. You can review and edit the personal data you provided to the Rewards program by contacting privacy@helloworld.com . Children and online safety. If you have children who use Xbox services, you can set up child accounts for them. Children 17 and younger cannot create an account on Xbox Live without parental consent. Adults in the family can change consent choices and online safety settings for child accounts on xbox.com .
