Microsoft Recite Technology Preview Privacy Statement
Last updated: February 2009
Microsoft is committed to protecting your privacy, while delivering software that
brings you the performance, power, and convenience you desire in your personal computing.
This privacy statement explains many of the data collection and use practices of
Microsoft Recite Technology Preview ("Recite"). This is a preliminary disclosure
that focuses on features that communicate with the Internet and is not intended
to be an exhaustive list.
Microsoft Recite -- an easy way to remember, search and retrieve mental notes and
reminders. You can record, search, and listen to voice reminders ("Remembrances")
on your Windows-based mobile device.
Collection and Use of Your Information
The information we collect from you will be used by Microsoft and its controlled
subsidiaries and affiliates to enable the features you are using and provide the
service(s) or carry out the transaction(s) you have requested or authorized. It
may also be used to analyze and improve Microsoft products and services.
We may send certain mandatory service communications such as welcome letters, billing
reminders, information on technical service issues, and security announcements.
Some Microsoft services may send periodic member letters that are considered part
of the service. We may occasionally request your feedback, invite you to participate
in surveys, or send you promotional mailings to inform you of other products or
services available from Microsoft and its affiliates.
In order to offer you a more consistent and personalized experience in your interactions
with Microsoft, information collected through one Microsoft service may be combined
with information obtained through other Microsoft services. We may also supplement
the information we collect with information obtained from other companies. For example,
we may use services from other companies that enable us to derive a general geographic
area based on your IP address in order to customize certain services to your geographic
area.
Except as described in this statement, personal information you provide will not
be transferred to third parties without your consent. We occasionally hire other
companies to provide limited services on our behalf, such as packaging, sending
and delivering purchases and other mailings, answering customer questions about
products or services, processing event registration, or performing statistical analysis
of our services. We will only provide those companies the personal information they
need to deliver the service, and they are prohibited from using that information
for any other purpose.
Microsoft may access or disclose information about you, including the content of
your communications, in order to: (a) comply with the law or respond to lawful requests
or legal process; (b) protect the rights or property of Microsoft or our customers,
including the enforcement of our agreements or policies governing your use of the
services; or (c) act on a good faith belief that such access or disclosure is necessary
to protect the personal safety of Microsoft employees, customers, or the public.
Information that is collected by or sent to Microsoft by Recite may be stored and
processed in the United States or any other country in which Microsoft or its affiliates,
subsidiaries, or service providers maintain facilities. 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.
Collection and Use of Information about Your Device
When you use Recite, information about your device ("standard device information")
is sent to Microsoft each time the Recite service is used on your device. Microsoft
uses standard device information to provide you with the Recite services, to help
improve our products and services, and for statistical analysis. Standard device
information typically includes information about your usage habits as well as, a
unique ID associated with your installation of Recite, device manufacturer, device
name, model and software version.
Security of your information
Microsoft is committed to helping protect the security of your information. We use
a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your information
from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. For example, we store the information
you provide on computer systems with limited access, which are located in controlled
facilities.
Changes to this privacy statement
We will occasionally update this privacy statement to reflect changes in our products,
services, and customer feedback. When we post changes, we will revise the "last
updated" date at the top of this statement. If there are material changes to this
statement or in how Microsoft will use your personal information, we will notify
you either by posting a notice of such changes prior to implementing the change
or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to periodically review
this statement to be informed of how Microsoft is protecting your information.
For More Information
Microsoft welcomes your comments regarding this privacy statement. If you have questions
about this statement or believe that we have not adhered to it, please contact us
recpriv@microsoft.com or at the address below:
Microsoft Corporation
Mailslot: RecPriv
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052 USA
Specific features
The remainder of this document will address the following specific features: Recite
Experience Improvement Program and Recite Update.
Recite Experience Improvement Program
What This Feature Does:
The Recite Experience Improvement Program ("REIP") collects basic information about
how you use our software and services in order to identify trends and usage patterns.
REIP also collects the type and number of errors you encounter, software and hardware
performance, and the speed of services. We will not collect your name, address,
or other contact information.
Information Collected, Processed, or Transmitted:
Recite collects information from your device that allows us to operate and improve
the services, such as:
- The successes, failures, and errors that you experience when using Recite.
- Metrics regarding your use of Recite. This may include:
- Number of Remembrances and searches/day.
- Average length of Remembrances and searches.
- Number of Remembrances deleted.
- Number of results played per search.
- Statistics about the success of your searches of Remembrances.
- • Globally Unique Identifier (“GUID”) – a randomly generated number that does not
contain any personal information. GUIDs are used to identify individual installations
of Recite without identifying the user.
None of the content of your specific remembrances can be collected.
Use of Information:
We use this information to improve the quality, reliability, and performance of
Microsoft software and services.
Choice/Control:
Because this is a technology preview, REIP is turned on by default so that we can
collect information about how you use Recite in order to improve the commercially
released software.
If you do not want this information to be collected, please uninstall the software.
Recite Update
What This Feature Does:
Recite Update is a service that will check to confirm whether your device is running
the most current version of Recite.
Recite will send an RSS message to the Microsoft Recite server to check and see
if a new version of Recite is available. If so, the server will respond that there
is a new version and you will be given the option to download the new version. Unless
you decide to delete it during the update process, you will have access to all of
the information that you saved using the earlier version of Microsoft Recite.
The GUID is used to identify your device during the Recite Update process.