MSN Privacy Statement
MSN is committed to protecting your privacy. This MSN Privacy Statement applies to data collection and usage on MSN sites and services; it does not apply to other online or offline Microsoft sites, products or services. Please read the MSN Privacy Statement below and also any supplementary information at the end of this statement for additional details about particular MSN sites and services that you may use. MSN is a general audience web site, intended for users of all ages. Personal information of all users is collected, used and disclosed as described in this Privacy Statement. This Statement contains a section with specific details regarding personal information collected from children. Click here to read more. Other Microsoft services linked to from this Web site, .NET Passport, MapPoint, bCentral and WindowsMedia.com have their own privacy statements which can be viewed by clicking on the links. Collection of your Personal Information At some sites, MSN collects personal information, such as your e-mail address, name, home or work address or telephone number. MSN may also collect demographic information, such as your ZIP code, age, gender, preferences, interests and favorites. Information collected by MSN may be combined with information obtained from other Microsoft services and other companies. If you choose to sign up for a paid subscription service (such as MSN Internet Access or MSN Extra Storage), we will collect additional personal information, including your credit card number and billing address, in order to create a Microsoft billing account. MSN uses .NET Passport to provide registration and sign-in services. If you create a .NET Passport at MSN, you are simultaneously registering with MSN and opening a .NET Passport account. All of the registration information you provide will be stored by MSN, and some or all of that information will also be stored by .NET Passport in your Passport profile. To learn more about the Passport service, the information stored in the Passport profile, and how Passport uses and helps protect your personal information, please read the .NET Passport Privacy Statement. Some MSN services, such as MSN Chat and MSN Groups, request that you create a social nickname, which is the name you will be known by to others in those public places. You may select a different social nickname at any time. You can also choose to create an optional public profile, containing information about yourself - such as your hobbies and interests. Any information you choose to enter in your public profile will be visible to other users of MSN sites and services; and when you interact with other users (for example, sending an MSN Hotmail message to another MSN email account or interacting in an MSN Chat room), a link to your public profile may be displayed. Please keep in mind that if you disclose personal information through MSN Chats, MSN Groups, or other public online forums, this information may be collected and used by others. MSN cautions you against providing personal information to strangers online, which they may use for illegal or harmful purposes. MSN keeps track of the pages our customers visit within MSN, in order to determine what MSN sites and services are the most popular. MSN also collects certain information about your computer hardware and software. This information may include: your IP address, browser type, domain names, access times and referring Web site addresses. Certain MSN services may be co-branded and offered in conjunction with another company. If you register for or use such services, both MSN and the other company may receive information collected in conjunction with the co-branded services. Use of your Personal Information MSN and its operational service partners collect and use your personal information to operate MSN and deliver the services you have requested. These services may include the display of customized content and advertising based upon the information MSN has collected. MSN does not use or disclose sensitive personal information, such as race, religion, or political affiliations, without your explicit consent. MSN also uses your personal information to inform you of other products or services available from Microsoft and its affiliates. MSN may also contact you via surveys to conduct research about your opinion of current services or of potential new services that may be offered. MSN does not sell, rent or lease its customer lists to third parties. MSN may, from time to time, contact you on behalf of external business partners about a particular offering that may be of interest to you. In those cases, your personal information (e-mail, name, address, telephone number) is not transferred to the third party. We occasionally hire other companies to provide limited services on our behalf, such as handling the processing and delivery of mailings, providing customer support, processing transactions, or performing statistical analysis of our services. We will only provide those companies the personal information they need to deliver the service. They are required to maintain the confidentiality of your information and are prohibited from using that information for any other purpose. MSN may access and/or disclose your personal information if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on Microsoft or the site; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of Microsoft, including its MSN family of Web sites; or (c) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of MSN services or members of the public. Personal information collected on this site may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which Microsoft or its affiliates, subsidiaries or agents maintain facilities, and by using this site, you consent to any such transfer of information outside of your country. Microsoft abides by the safe harbor framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of data from the European Union. Control of your Personal Information MSN offers its customers choices for the collection, use and sharing of personal information. You may go to the MSN Communications Preferences page to proactively make choices about the use and sharing of your personal information. You may choose not to receive marketing material from MSN or on behalf of external third party business partners. You may also stop the delivery of future promotional e-mail from MSN by following the specific instructions in the e-mail you receive. The instructions explain how to stop receiving such e-mails. There are some MSN services, including MSN Internet Access and MSN Hotmail, that send out periodic e-mails informing you of technical service issues, product surveys, new feature announcements and news about MSN products and services. You will not be able to unsubscribe to these mailings, as they are considered a part of the service you have chosen. You may subscribe and unsubscribe to MSN Newsletters by going to newsletters.msn.com. In addition, each MSN newsletter you receive will have instructions on how to unsubscribe prominently mentioned in it. You may have the ability to view or edit your personal information:
Security of your Personal Information MSN is committed to protecting the security of your personal information. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. For example, we store the personal information you provide on computer systems with limited access, which are located in controlled facilities. When we transmit highly confidential information (such as a credit card number) over the Internet, we protect it through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol. Collection and Use of Children's Personal Information MSN offers a special MSN Kids area that is specifically designed for children at http://kids.msn.com/. MSN Kids has a special privacy statement that informs children and parents about the MSN Kids area, describes the additional privacy protections provided in this area, and provides children with tips on how to protect themselves online. The rest of MSN is intended for users of all ages. Children may visit these general audience areas of MSN and provide personal information, which will be collected, used and disclosed as described is this Privacy Statement. Some, but not all, MSN sites require users to provide age information. For those users who visit such sites and identify themselves as under 13, MSN uses Kids Passport, a service of .NET Passport, to obtain consent from parents for the collection, use and sharing of their children's personal information as described in this Privacy Statement. If MSN changes this Privacy Statement in a way that expands the collection, use or disclosure of children's personal information to which a parent has previously consented, the parent will be notified and MSN will be required to obtain the parent's additional consent. To learn more about the Kids Passport service, please visit www.passport.net and read the .NET Passport Kids Privacy Statement. Please note that if you grant consent for your child to use such general audience communication services as MSN Chat, MSN Groups, MSN Messenger, or MSN Hotmail, your child will be able to communicate with other users of all ages. Before providing consent, please be aware that such services will give your child the ability to disclose personal information (e.g. name, address, e-mail, phone numbers) on his or her own. We encourage you to talk with your children about communicating with strangers and disclosing personal information online. You and your child can visit MSN's Stay Safe Online site for additional information about using the Internet safely. When an MSN service knows that a user is a child, it will not condition the child's participation in an activity, such as a game or a prize drawing, on the provision of more personal information than is reasonably necessary to participate in that activity. Additionally, you have the right, subject to verification that you are the child's parent, to change or revoke the consent choices you have previously made for MSN services and to review or request the deletion of your child's personal information. You may send such requests, or any questions you have about MSN's practices with regard to personal information about your child, by clicking here to send e-mail or by sending postal mail to the address in the "Contact Information" section of this Statement. Use of Cookies MSN uses "cookies" to help you personalize your online experience. A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a Web page server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you, and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you. One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature to save you time. For example, if you personalize MSN's pages, or register with MSN sites or services, a cookie helps MSN to recall your specific information on subsequent visits. This simplifies the process of recording your personal information, such as billing addresses, preferred email address, and so on. When you return to MSN, the information you previously provided can be retrieved, so you can easily use the MSN features that you customized. You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the MSN services or Web sites you visit. Use of Web Beacons MSN Web pages may contain electronic images known as Web beacons - sometimes called single-pixel gifs - that allow MSN to count users who have visited those pages and to deliver co-branded services. MSN may include web beacons in promotional e-mail messages or MSN Newsletters in order to count how many messages have been opened and acted upon. Web beacons collect only a limited set of information including a cookie number, time and date of a page view, and a description of the page on which the Web beacon resides. MSN Web pages may also contain Web beacons placed there by third parties in order to compile aggregated statistics and to help determine the effectiveness of our joint promotional or advertising campaigns. MSN prohibits web beacons from being used to access your personal information. Use of Third Party Ad Networks The majority of the online banner advertisements you see on MSN Web pages are displayed by MSN. In addition, MSN allows other companies, called third-party ad servers or ad networks, to display advertisements on MSN Web pages. Some of these ad networks may place a persistent cookie on your computer. Doing this allows the ad network to recognize your computer each time they send you an online advertisement. In this way, ad networks may compile information about where you, or others who are using your computer, saw their advertisements and determine which ads are clicked on. This information allows an ad network to deliver targeted advertisements that they believe will be of most interest to you. Microsoft does not have access to or control of the cookies that may be placed by the third-party ad servers or ad networks. MSN maintains relationships with a number of the third-party ad networks currently operating such as: Ad4Ever; AdCentric Online; Ad Dynamix; AdSolution; Avenue A; BlueStreak; BridgeTrack; DoubleClick; efluxa; Enliven; Flycast; i33; Mediaplex; PlanetActive; Pointroll; Profero; Qksrv; RealMedia; RedAgency; TangoZebra; TargetGraph; TrackStar; Travelworm; Unicast. Those ad networks that use persistent cookies may offer you a way to opt out of ad targeting. You may find more information at the Web site of either the individual ad network or the Network Advertising Initiative. TRUSTe Certification MSN is a member of the TRUSTe Privacy Program. TRUSTe is an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to build trust and confidence in the Internet by promoting the use of fair information practices. Because MSN wants to demonstrate its commitment to your privacy, it has agreed to disclose its information practices and have its privacy practices reviewed for compliance by TRUSTe. Enforcement of this Privacy Statement If you have questions regarding this statement, you should first contact MSN via e-mail. If you do not receive acknowledgement of your inquiry or your inquiry has not been satisfactorily addressed, you should then contact TRUSTe at www.truste.org/users/users_watchdog.html. TRUSTe will serve as a liaison with MSN to resolve your concerns. Changes to this Statement MSN will occasionally update this Privacy Statement to reflect company and customer feedback. When MSN posts changes to this Statement, you will see the word "updated" next to the Privacy Statement link on the front page of MSN. If there are material changes to this Statement or in how MSN will use your personal information, MSN will prominently post such changes prior to implementing the change. MSN encourages you to periodically review this Statement to be informed of how Microsoft is protecting your information. Contact Information MSN welcomes your comments regarding this Privacy Statement. If you believe that MSN has not adhered to this Statement, please contact MSN by telephone, e-mail, or postal mail. MSN Privacy Click here to send e-mail. Supplementary Information for Particular MSN Sites and Services Please click in the links below to view additional information about particular MSN sites and services. Please note that this additional information is intended to supplement and be read in conjunction with the general provisions of the MSN Privacy Statement above.
MSN Internet Access Service When you create an MSN Internet Access account, you will be simultaneously creating a .Net Passport for each user of the account, which will be used to sign into the service. For more information about .NET Passport, visit http://www.passport.net and read the .NET Passport Privacy Statement. New users will receive welcome letters explaining the features provided by the service. MSN Internet Access may contact you regarding the service, such as changes in the service, technical issues or billing questions. You may also receive periodic member letters to announce important service changes, new features, technical issue updates and news about other Microsoft products and services. You may access and update your information in your MSN Internet Access account in the "Help and Support" area of MSN Internet Access at memberservices.msn.com. You may also contact MSN Internet Access Customer Service to determine whether such information has been accurately recorded, and, if not, to request correction of any inaccuracies. You can reach a live interactive online support representative 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at msn.webhelp.com/msn/. MSN Hotmail Hotmail collects information during the registration process, including first and last name, country, region or state, zip or postal code, time zone, gender, birth date and occupation. You may update your registration information at any time from within your Hotmail account by clicking the "Options" button on the navigation bar, and then clicking on the "Personal" icon. When you create a Hotmail account, you will also simultaneously create a .NET Passport, which you will use for signing in to your Hotmail account. If you cancel this .NET Passport account, you will automatically cancel your Hotmail account. For more information about .NET Passport, visit http://www.passport.net and read the .NET Passport Privacy Statement. Your registration information is used to operate the site, for demographic statistics, and to display appropriate individualized advertisements. New users will receive a Hotmail welcome letter explaining the features provided by the service. Hotmail may also send periodic member letters, from which you may not unsubscribe without closing your account, to announce important service changes, new features, technical issue updates and information about other products and services. Hotmail is concerned about controlling unsolicited commercial e-mail, or "spam." Hotmail will not sell, lease or rent its member lists to any third parties. While Microsoft continues to actively review and implement new technology, such as expanded filtering features, there is no currently available technology that will totally prevent the sending and receiving of unsolicited e-mail. Using tools such as the Inbox Protector and being cautious about the sharing of your e-mail address while online will help reduce the amount of unsolicited e-mail you receive. For more information on how to best use Hotmail's tools, please contact abuse@hotmail.com. Hotmail has a strict policy prohibiting the use of a Hotmail account to send spam. To read more about this policy, go to http://privacy.msn.com/Anti-spam/. MSN Premium/ MSN Plus / MSN 9 Dial-Up When you sign up for MSN Premium/ MSN Plus or MSN 9 Dial-Up, we request registration information including personal information such as name and address, as well as demographic information such as occupation. Once registered, MSN will recognize users on future visits. Through MSN registration, you will also create a .NET Passport for each user, which will be used for signing into the service. For more information about Passport and the Passport services, go to http://www.passport.net and read the .NET Passport Privacy Statement. MSN will automatically check the version of MSN Premium/ MSN Plus or MSN 9 Dial-Up and components you are using (including your browser version) every time you sign into the service in order to optimize performance. MSN may also provide upgrades to such software that will be automatically installed on your computer. MSN Parental Controls E-mail notification: When a parent configures Parental Controls for a child, the child will receive an e-mail message describing the service and notifying him or her that Parental Controls have been set for the account. Online activity report: Parents can choose to enable online reporting for a child who has Parental Controls set for his or her account. If this feature is enabled, information about how a child uses the Internet will be stored temporarily on the child's computer. This information is periodically sent to the parent by e-mail from the child's account and is then deleted from the child's computer. Contact lists: Parents may also choose to control the list of people that a child can correspond with using MSN Mail or MSN Messenger. The list of contacts specified for the child is stored on MSN servers so that the child will be protected whenever and wherever he or she uses MSN Mail or Messenger. The list of contacts can be edited by the parent or can be deleted by deleting the child's account. Task requests: A child may request permission to complete a task that a parent has blocked. For example, the child can request access to a blocked Web site or for the ability to exchange e-mail messages with a new friend. MSN stores this automated request for a brief period, allowing the parent to review, allow, or deny the request from any computer using MSN Premium/ MSN Plus or MSN 9 Dial-Up. MSN Customer Experience Improvement Program MSN performs this service to help us identify trends and usage patterns and improve Microsoft software and services. The Customer Experience Improvement Program can be turned on or off at any time in MSN Premium/ MSN Plus or MSN9 Dial-Up Software on the Privacy settings page. This trend and usage information includes anonymous information about how you use the software. For example, this may include whether you clicked on a particular button or menu item, how many email messages you sent with pictures, or whether the dashboard is turned on or off. Please note your decision to participate in the Customer Experience Improvement Program does not affect the collection of anonymous performance information about the MSN software and service that Microsoft collects as an essential part of providing you and all MSN customers a reliable, quality service. This performance information may include, for example, how many times you attempt to sign in or how long it takes on average to open the home page. All of this information is anonymous and does not include any personal information Critical Performance Errors Before you choose to send your data to MSN, you have the opportunity to review that data. If you choose to send the data, in some cases your personal information may also be sent to MSN. This personal information is deleted before Microsoft reviews the error data you send. Import Wizard "Roaming"
All of this information is stored on secure MSN servers. The sole purpose of storing the information on the server is to provide you with the convenience of having your settings and information available to you anywhere, even if you use multiple computers. This information is not used by MSN for any purpose other than to enable roaming. MSN Toolbar Each time you use MSN Search, including the MSN Toolbar, cookies may be placed on your machine and MSN may collect your Internet IP address, the time and date of your search terms, and your browser configuration. MSN may use this information to customize your search results. While you have MSN Toolbar installed, please note that new versions of the MSN Toolbar will automatically be 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. Toolbar users will be given a choice to participate in CEIP, Microsoft's Customer Experience Improvement Program. If you participate, the MSN Toolbar may track the websites you visit as well as your actions while reviewing MSN Search results, all on an anonymous basis. Such actions may include which results are visited and how much time is spent on a particular search results page. None of this activity is traced back to you personally, even if you are signed into your Passport, and is used solely to improve the MSN Search experience for all MSN users. MSN Calendar and Address Book The MSN Calendar and Address Book stores contact information you enter there about yourself and others including calendar appointments, email address, first and last name, nickname, home address, work address, phone number, and birthdate. 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: For 1-to-1 calendar sharing, with side by side appointment views, both you and your friend must be a subscriber to an 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 msn.com/calendar. MSN Health MSN Health is provided by MSN's partner, WebMD. WebMD requests personal information and demographic data to provide you with the health related services you have requested. MSN does not collect or use any of this information. You may change the information in your WebMD member profile at any time, or request that your information be deleted by e-mailing support@webmd.com. MSN encourages you to read the entire MSN Health/WebMD Privacy Statement to understand the extra precautions that WebMD has taken to safeguard your health data. MSN Messenger When you sign up for MSN Messenger service, MSN requests your Passport Member Name, a "friendly" name that you choose, a phone number (optional), and the list of "buddies" with whom you can send and receive instant messages and similar information about those "buddies." No other company has access to your phone number or buddy information. Only authorized MSN customer service representatives may access this information, upon your request, to assist you in using the Messenger service. Go to Tools Options in Messenger to change your friendly name, phone number, or any other information. MSN Messenger offers an optional service, called the Customer Experience Improvement Program, designed to help improve the technical quality of Microsoft products and services. If you choose to participate, you allow us to collect anonymous information about how you use our software and services, as well as some information about your computer. All of this information is anonymous and does not include any personal information. For example, this program collects information about the performance of the MSN Messenger service, the time it takes you to sign-in, error messages that you might encounter as you use the service, whether each message reaches the recipient, and what type of Internet connection you use. Your participation in the Customer Experience Improvement Program is completely voluntary. To join:
You can cancel your participation at any time by simply clearing the check box described in step 3 above. MSN Mobile When you sign up for MSN Mobile for your mobile phone or pager, MSN requests your Passport Member Name, time zone, mobile e-mail address (usually phonenumber@carrier.com), carrier name, ZIP code, your phone or pager member ID, your phone or pager's gateway server name, and your mobile alert preferences. MSN uses this information to operate the MSN Mobile service and provide customer support to users when they need help. If you signed up for MSN Mobile at a co-branded site, your carrier will also have your personal information. You may visit the mobile.msn.com website at any time to edit or change your personal information. MSN Money In accordance with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, annual privacy notices for MSN Money customers receiving financial services will be provided through the continual posting of the current version of this privacy statement in a clear and conspicuous manner on this Web site. By using MSN Money services, you acknowledge receipt of this statement and agree to receive subsequent privacy notices in this manner on an on-going basis. As part of providing MSN Money customers with a central location for managing personal finances, MSN may request that you furnish personal information such as your e-mail address, name and physical address along with financial data such as account balances, account numbers, credit card balances, and stock and bond portfolio information. MSN uses this information to provide you with online bill-paying services, portfolio tracking, and other requested financial services. The MSN Bill Pay service is provided by CheckFree. For information about how CheckFree handles the data it collects in connection with the MSN Bill Pay service, please read CheckFree's privacy statement. MSN Personal Domains To fulfill your domain name request, MSN uses several accredited Registrars to register your selected domain name(s). We ask you to supply registrant and administrative contact information such as name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address. To view or modify this data, go to http://domains.msn.com/settings, and sign in as the primary account holder. Then click on the "Domain Information" link. As required by the Internet's governing organization (ICANN), the Registrar used 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. MSN Wallet MSN Wallet makes online shopping easier by permitting you to enter your address and payment information just once, and then automatically fill in forms at participating sites. You may create an MSN Wallet account at https://wallet.msn.com or while making a purchase at participating merchants across the Internet. Regardless of where you create an MSN Wallet or where you use it to make online purchases, MSN Wallet collects certain personal information. Your full name, credit card number(s) and their expirations date(s), email address, postal address, and telephone numbers are stored by MSN on behalf of MSN Wallet customers. At any time, you may edit or delete this data from your MSN Wallet account by going to the MSN Wallet home site. To edit or delete address information, go to the Addresses page and click the Edit button next to the address you want to change. To edit or delete payment information, go to the Payment methods page and click the Edit button next to the payment method you want to change. In addition, certain transactional data related to your online purchases made through MSN Wallet is recorded by MSN. This information includes the time, date and amount of the purchase and the store where the purchase was made, but not what was purchased. We use transactional log data to perform audits and reconcile records, track service usage, calculate amounts applicable to MSN programs, target promotional offers, and personalize your online experience at MSN. Information stored by MSN Wallet is not shared with participating merchants unless you explicitly choose to provide it by using your MSN Wallet on the merchant's site. For each transaction, you will be able to choose which credit card and address information to sent to the merchant for that purchase. All MSN Wallet merchants are required to post privacy statements. When visiting a site that uses MSN Wallet, be sure to read its privacy statement to determine how it protects the personal information you provide. MSN Direct The MSN Direct is a specialized wireless service that delivers personalized information through the FM subcarrier radio network to enabled watches. All information sent over the network is encrypted for security and each watch has a unique ID to ensure that only your watch can display the content intended specifically for you - such as your calendar or messages. Watches with MSN Direct are one-way information receiving devices. They do not broadcast any information, such as your location, that could be received by MSN or others. There are, however, two ways in which MSN Direct may collect information about your general location. When you sign up for the service on the MSN Direct website, we will collect an activation code that will be displayed on your watch. This code will identify the radio tower from which your watch is receiving a signal. This information indicates which metropolitan area you were in at time of sign-up. You can also provide, at the MSN Direct website, information about where you live and where you commute. This location data allows us to send you relevant information for your locale, such as traffic updates. In addition, you can also provide your travel locations so that personalized information can be temporarily re-routed to broadcast towers near you when you are away from home. MSN Zone To play games on the MSN Zone, we request that you create a social nickname which is the name you will be known by to others in public areas. The Zone also requests your e-mail address so that we may contact you if you are the winner of a competition and where we may send you an optional Zone newsletter. Inside the Zone it is possible to create an optional Zone Profile. This Zone Profile contains information about the games you like to play, your favorite URL, a description of your interests, and scores you might have attained if you visited any of the rated rooms on the site. All such information is optional and everything you enter in your Zone Profile will be visible to other users of the Zone. MSN urges you to be careful only to enter information on your Zone Profile that you are comfortable sharing with the public at large. You may edit, delete, or modify information in your Zone Profile at any time by clicking on "Support," then "My Account Information." The Zone also hosts a small number of premium games. To participate in these optional games a fee is charged. In order to collect this fee, the Zone requests your billing information in order to process a credit card transaction for this service. ©2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. |
