Xbox Privacy Statement
Last updated: November 2005

This Privacy Statement applies to data collected by Microsoft through the Xbox Live service and the Xbox.com Web site. It does not apply to other online or offline Microsoft sites, products, or services, or any other game-related sites operated by Microsoft or other publishers.

Collection of Your Personal Information

When you create an account on Xbox.com or Xbox Live, you will be asked to provide certain personal information such as your name and e-mail address. If you register your Microsoft Xbox product(s) via Xbox.com, you will be asked to provide additional information, such as your name and postal address. Creating an Xbox Live subscription or making a purchase from Xbox.com will require the collection of additional information, such as your billing and shipping information.

When you create an Xbox Live account, you will be asked to create a Gamertag. You also may be allowed to pick separate nicknames to use in-game. These Gamertags and nicknames will be shown to other players when you are signed in to Xbox Live and may be displayed with your game stats and presence status, as displayed in-game and/or on the Web. Since these names may be publicly displayed, you should not use your personal information when creating them. You may also have the opportunity to add an attachment of photos, graphics, text, or audio to your stats information. If you do this, that attachment will be able to be viewed or heard by other users of the service.

In order to access Xbox Live and some areas of Xbox.com, you will be asked to sign in with an e-mail address and password, which we refer to as your credentials. These credentials are part of the Microsoft Passport Network, which means you can use the same credentials to sign in to many different Microsoft sites and services, as well as those of select Microsoft partners. As part of creating your credentials, you may also be requested to provide an alternate email address, and questions and secret answers, which we use to verify your identity and assist in resetting your password. Finally, a unique ID number will be assigned to your credentials which will be used to identify your credentials and associated information.

We may collect information about your usage of Xbox Live. This information can include such activities as: times you sign-in to and sign-off from Xbox Live; games that you have played on Xbox Live; content you purchase on Xbox Live; and game score statistics. If you use an Xbox 360 console that includes a storage device (hard drive or memory unit), and if you play offline or have never signed-in to Xbox Live, usage data will be stored on the storage device of your Xbox console and sent to Microsoft the next time you sign in to the Xbox Live service. However, you can delete this information from your storage device prior to connection to Xbox Live, or block it from being displayed to other users, in the Xbox Live Dashboard.

We may also collect the pages you view on Xbox.com, the links you click and other actions taken. We also collect certain standard information on Xbox.com that your browser sends to every website you visit, such as your IP address, browser type and language, access times and referring Web site addresses.

Microsoft is able to identify which Xbox console and which version of the Xbox Dashboard you are currently using. This information is used specifically for the purpose of alerting Xbox Live to provide you with appropriate auto-updates to the Xbox Dashboard, and to protect the security of Xbox Live.

When you receive newsletters or promotional e-mail from Microsoft, we may use web beacons (described below), customized links or similar technologies to determine whether the e-mail has been opened and which links you click in order to provide you more focused e-mail communications or other information.

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 location.

Use of Your Personal Information
Microsoft collects and uses your personal information to operate Xbox.com and Xbox Live, and to deliver the services or carry out the transactions you have requested. These uses may include providing you with more effective customer service, improving the sites and related Microsoft products or services, making the sites easier to use by eliminating the need for you to repeatedly enter the same information, and displaying customized content and advertising based upon the information we have collected about your interests and preferences.

We also use your personal information to communicate with you. We may send certain mandatory service communications such as welcome letters, billing reminders, information on technical service issues, and security announcements. We may also occasionally send you product surveys, promotional mailings or newsletters that you choose to receive.

Personal information collected on Microsoft sites and services 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 a Microsoft site or service, 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.

Sharing of Your Personal Information
Except as described in this statement, we will not disclose your personal information outside of Microsoft and its controlled subsidiaries and affiliates without your consent. You can choose to share your contact information and usage data with other selected companies so that they can contact you about their products, services or offers. See the section below on Accessing and Controlling Your Personal Information for more information.

If you are a subscriber of the Xbox Live service, your gamertag, nicknames and statistics such as high scores will be visible to other Xbox Live subscribers Through Xbox Live and on the Xbox.com Web site. Other data such as your gamer picture, motto, country, additional statistics, such as the games you play, and your online presence, may be available to other subscribers, however you can opt-out of sharing this data, or limit it to those on your Xbox Live friends list. If you use Xbox 360, your gamertag will be automatically linked with your Passport Network credentials so that when you sign into Xbox.com, your experience will be personalized and you will have access to additional features. If you use the original Xbox, you will have the opportunity to manually link your Xbox Live gamertag to your Passport Network credentials in the Xbox Live section of the Web site. The linkage between your gamertag and Passport may be shared with other Microsoft and 3rd party game sites in order for those sites to provide you with a personalized experience when you sign in.

Some Xbox services may be co-branded and offered in conjunction with another company. If you register for or use such services, both Microsoft and the other company may receive information collected in conjunction with the co-branded services. Alternatively, there may be links to sign up for services from game publishers or other third parties within a game or by following a link from Xbox.com, where the information is collected and used solely by the third party and is not retained by Microsoft. We encourage you to review the privacy statements of these third parties so that you can understand how they may collect, use and share your information. We are not responsible for the privacy statements or other content on web sites or services operated by other companies.

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 the information and are prohibited from using it for any other purpose.

We may access and/or disclose your personal information if we believe such action is necessary to: (a) comply with the law or legal process served on Microsoft; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of Microsoft (including the enforcement of our agreements); or (c) act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of Microsoft services or members of the public.

Accessing and Controlling Your Personal Information
You have the ability to view or edit your personal information online on the My Account page on Xbox.com or in the Account Management section of the Xbox Dashboard. If you have a Microsoft Billing account created on an Xbox 360, you can also add to or update the billing information by clicking on the payment method's link under "payment type," located at https://billing.microsoft.com. In order to help prevent your personal information from being viewed by others, you will be required to sign in with your credentials (e-mail address and password). Or you can write us by using our Web form, and we will contact you within 30 days regarding your request.

As part of the account creation process, you will be given the choice as to whether you would like to receive marketing information relating to Xbox, Xbox Live, and other Microsoft products and services and whether you would like to share your contact information and usage data with other selected companies for their own marketing uses. You can change these contact and data sharing preferences at any time on the My Account page on Xbox.com or in the Account Management section of the Xbox Dashboard. You can also opt-out of marketing mails by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the mail.

We may send out periodic emails informing you of technical service issues, information about account issues, or news about changes or updates to the site. As long as you maintain an Xbox Live or Xbox.com account, you cannot opt out of these mails as they are considered essential to the operation of the service. However, you can cancel your account to Xbox Live by calling Xbox Live Customer Support at 1-800-4MY-XBOX.

Please be aware that this Privacy Statement and the choices you make on this site may not apply to personal information you may have provided to Microsoft in the context of other, separately operated, Microsoft products, services and Web sites.

Security of Your Personal Information
Microsoft 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 or password) over the Internet, we protect it through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol.

If a password is used to help protect your accounts and personal information, it is your responsibility to keep your password confidential. Do not share this information with anyone. If you are sharing a computer or Xbox console with anyone you should always choose to log out before leaving in order to protect access to your information from subsequent users.

Family Settings and Parental Consent
If you use Xbox Live, you can choose to set up parental controls for the other users of that account via the Family Settings features. Children's usage information, such as games played, download history, and friends list, may be made available to the owner of the parent account associated with the child. Users of Xbox.com that are identified as children are not permitted to create an account on the Web site unless they already have an Xbox Live account.

Children under the age of 13 cannot create an Xbox Live account without parental consent. Account creation, which enables the use of Xbox Live and certain Xbox.com features, will require the owner of the associated parent account to consent to the collection of information about the child. This will involve the collection and verification of a credit card number in order to help determine that the owner of that parent account is an adult. Under family Settings in the Xbox Live Dashboard, parents can change or revoke the consent choices previously made, and review, edit or request the deletion of their children's personal information. We will not knowingly ask children under the age of 13 to provide more information than is reasonably necessary to provide our services. If we change 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 we will be required to obtain the parent's additional consent.

We encourage you to talk with your children about communicating with strangers and disclosing personal information online. You can visit our child safety site for additional information about using the Internet safely.

Chats and Forums
Some Xbox features, such as Xbox Chat and Xbox forums, permit you to interact with other users. Please keep in mind that if you disclose personal information through public online forums, this information may be collected and used by others - possibly for illegal or harmful purposes. We recommend you be cautious in giving out personal information to others in these public online forums.

Using Your Credentials at Sites on the Passport Network
Your credentials (e-mail address and password) are part of the Microsoft Passport Network, which means you can also use your credentials to sign into other sites and services that are part of the Passport Network.

When you use your credentials to sign into a site on the Passport Network, that sign-in will be temporarily logged for the purpose of ensuring the efficiency and security of the Passport Network. This information in the logs is identified only by your account's unique ID number, and it is not linked with personal information unless you call to request assistance.

Certain information will be shared with sites and services that you choose to sign-in to on the Passport Network. The unique ID number associated with your credential is shared with the site or service when you sign-in, so it can determine whether you are the same person from one sign-in session to the next. The following "operational" information will be shared with sites when you sign in: the version number assigned to your account (a new number is assigned each time you change your sign-in information); whether your e-mail address has been confirmed; and whether your account has been deactivated.

Additionally, certain sites and services on the Passport Network require your e-mail address in order to provide you with their services. In those cases, your e-mail address will be provided when you sign in to those services. Your password is not shared as part of sign-in, however, the site where you created your credentials may have limited access to credential information in order to help you reset your password or provide other support services.

Please note that sites and services on the Passport Network can use or share your e-mail address or other personal information that you provide to them as described in their privacy statements. However they can only share your unique ID number with third parties in order to fulfill a service or transaction you may have requested. All sites or services on the Passport Network are required to have a posted privacy statement, but we do not control or monitor the privacy practices of sites on the Passport Network, and the privacy practices of those sites will vary. You should carefully review the privacy statement for each site you sign in to in order to determine how each site or service will use the information it collects.

More information about the Microsoft Passport Network is available at http://www.passport.net.

Use of Cookies
Xbox.com uses "cookies" to enable you to sign in to our services and to help personalize your online experience. A cookie is a small text file that is placed on your hard disk by a Web page server. Cookies contain information that can later be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer.

We use cookies to store your preferences and other information on your computer in order to save you time by eliminating the need to repeatedly enter the same information and to display your personalized content and appropriate advertising on your later visits to these sites.

When you sign in to a site using your credentials, the Microsoft Passport Network stores your unique ID number, and the time you signed in, in an encrypted cookie on your hard disk. This cookie allows you to move from page to page at the site without having to sign in again on each page. When you sign out, these cookies are deleted from your computer. The Passport Network also uses cookies to improve the sign in experience. For example, your e-mail address may be stored in a cookie that will remain on your computer after you sign out. This cookie allows your e-mail address to be pre-populated, so that you will only need to type your password the next time you sign in. If you are using a public computer or do not otherwise want this information to be stored, you can select the appropriate radio button on the sign-in page, and this cookie will not be used.

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 sign in or use other interactive features of Microsoft sites and services that depend on cookies.

Use of Web Beacons
Xbox.com pages contain electronic images known as Web beacons - sometimes called single-pixel gifs - that assist in delivering cookies on our sites and allow us to count users who have visited those pages and to deliver co-branded services. We may include Web beacons in promotional e-mail messages or our newsletters in order to determine whether messages have been opened and acted upon.

Microsoft may also employ Web beacons from third parties in order to help us compile aggregated statistics and determine the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns. We prohibit Web beacons on our sites from being used by third parties to collect or access your personal information.

TRUSTe Certification
Microsoft 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 we want to demonstrate our commitment to your privacy, we have agreed to disclose our information practices and have our privacy practices reviewed for compliance by TRUSTe. The TRUSTe program covers only information that is collected through Microsoft's Web sites, and does not cover information that may be collected through software downloaded from such sites.

Enforcement of This Privacy Statement
If you have questions regarding this statement, you should first contact us by clicking here. If you do not receive acknowledgement of your inquiry or your inquiry has not been satisfactorily addressed, you should then contact TRUSTe at http://www.truste.org/consumers/watchdog_complaint.php. TRUSTe will serve as a liaison with Microsoft to resolve your concerns.

Changes to This Statement
We will occasionally update this privacy statement to reflect changes in our services and customer feedback. When we post changes to this statement, 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 prominently 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.

Contacting Us
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 by using our Web form.

Xbox Privacy, Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington 98052 - 425-882-8080
To find the Microsoft subsidiary in your country or region, see http://www.microsoft.com/worldwide/.