Privacy Assurances for Online Services

To match other vendors’ privacy protections for search engine queries and other online interactions, Microsoft will erase certain data about Live Search queries after 18 months and has promised to install other online privacy protections as it expands its online advertising business. The new privacy policy gives the appearance of balancing Microsoft’s promises to offer more detailed user information to online advertisers so they can target their advertisements more effectively, but the policy could be compromised if Microsoft faces pressure from advertisers to improve results.

Search Anonymization

As is the case with search offerings from other companies, when a user conducts a search on Microsoft’s Live Search site, Microsoft collects data about the search, including the key words or terms entered and the user’s IP address. It also uses cookies to track user behavior over time, such as past searches or other Microsoft Web sites that the user has visited. If the user is logged in via Microsoft’s Live ID (formerly Passport) service, these cookies may also contain personally identifiable information, such as the user’s name and e-mail address.