Do Not Track

Microsoft supports continuing work toward a Do Not Track standard

- Brendon Lynch - Chief Privacy Officer, Microsoft

Our customers expect strong privacy protections to be built into Microsoft technologies, so we make privacy a priority. Our inclusion of Do Not Track (DNT) in Internet Explorer 10 and Internet Explorer 11 is an example of how we strive to meet these expectations. We believe DNT holds potential to help people better manage their privacy online. However, until stakeholders collectively agree on what DNT means and how websites should Read more »

Continuing our commitment to privacy and consumer choice with Do Not Track

- Brendon Lynch - Chief Privacy Officer, Microsoft

As part of our ongoing commitment to privacy, Microsoft has included improvements to our support of the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Do Not Track (DNT) effort in the Windows 8.1 Preview released at Microsoft’s Build conference last week.  Specifically, the new version of Internet Explorer (included with the Windows 8.1 Preview) is the first major browser to implement User-Granted Exceptions from the W3C’s Tracking Protection Working Group’s specification effort. Read more »

Looking Ahead: Cause for Optimism for Online Consumer Privacy

- Brad Smith - General Counsel & Executive Vice President, Legal and Corporate Affairs, Microsoft

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak to the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) at a special summit in Maryland focused on privacy in the digital age. The summit marked a key point in a year-long initiative by NAAG President and Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler aimed at exploring the best ways to manage online privacy risks and how best for NAAG to apply its resources to help ensure Read more »

Putting Privacy First in 2013

- Brad Smith - General Counsel & Executive Vice President, Legal and Corporate Affairs, Microsoft

As 2012 draws to a close, we’re starting to see a number of “year-in-review” pieces recapping key developments in the tech industry over the past 12 months. One item that I think deserves to be near the top of these year-end lists is an issue to which we and others have been paying especially close attention. Online privacy. We continue to strive to put privacy first for our customers, while Read more »

Privacy and a New Era of Personal Computing: A View from Brussels

- Brendon Lynch - Chief Privacy Officer, Microsoft

I spent last week in Brussels with privacy regulators and practitioners from around the world, many of whom were there for the IAPP European Data Protection Congress. It’s an important time for privacy globally, and I want to share a few of my insights from the week (including my keynote address to the conference and a separate event we hosted on transatlantic privacy) and how they apply to what we’re Read more »

Privacy and Technology in Balance?

- Brad Smith - General Counsel & Executive Vice President, Legal and Corporate Affairs, Microsoft

This week, I had the opportunity to speak in Uruguay at the 34th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners. This conference brings together leading authorities on privacy from more than 50 countries, including many of the key government officials and regulators responsible for privacy policies around the world. It provides a great opportunity to engage in a dialogue about one of the most important topics facing our industry Read more »

Charting a Course for Privacy Innovations

- Mike Hintze - Chief Privacy Counsel, Microsoft

For any technology company, continuous innovation is essential to stay relevant. But new features and functionality are not enough. Increasingly, consumers want innovations that help them keep their personal information secure and private. And policymakers and regulators are looking to industry to take the lead on creating new tools and policies that enhance privacy and data protection.  To explore these issues in more detail, last week we hosted our latest Read more »

To Track or Not to Track? Not Just a Question, a Choice for Consumers and Industry

- Brendon Lynch - Chief Privacy Officer, Microsoft

As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen privacy for consumers, Microsoft recently announced that the next version of Internet Explorer (IE 10) will include the Do-Not-Track (DNT) feature turned “on” by default. There has been a lot of public debate about tracking users’ activities on the Internet, including for the purposes of targeted advertising. Although there definitely are important benefits from targeted ads, many people are not comfortable receiving Read more »