New
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win10.0.122 and privacy
As Microsoft moves to a different revenue model, you should pay attention to privacy of data on your devices.
What Microsoft's New CEO Means for Its Ads Business | Digital - Advertising Age
Microsoft Tells Agencies What They Must Do to Win Its Coveted Global Account | AdweekMicrosoft's newest CEO is not likely to kill the company's advertising business. Quite the contrary, it may receive new life.
Last week Microsoft named 22-year veteran Satya Nadella the successor to outgoing chief executive Steve Ballmer. As with the introduction of any new regime, the appointment raises questions regarding the company's focus moving forward and whether businesses not fitting that focus will be divested.
Mr. Nadella most recently oversaw Microsoft's profitable cloud-computing business and has said he will emphasize that and mobile. But what about advertising? Will he continue Mr. Ballmer's pruning of its profit-eating ads business and cut it off entirely?
Microsoft remains a player in digital advertising, but a fading one. Its global ad revenue was $2.9 billion in 2013, a shade behind Yahoo but well behind Facebook's $6.4 billion and Google's $38.62 billion. The company's share of U.S. digital ad revenues has stagnated around 6% since 2011 while Google has maintained a 40% grip, according to eMarketer.
...Now, the Microsoft evangelists will tell you that there is nothing to be concerned about and you're just being paranoid. Ok ... that's their opinion. You only have to read the news reports about large retailers being hacked and customer data being stolen to question that position. Placing your data on the cloud, no matter how secure it is claimed to be, is a decision you must consider carefully. Allowing apps to have access to your data is also something that should not be taken lightly....
Particularly revealing, the document states that Microsoft “believes a holding company model consolidating most of its work (about 80 percent) with one or two holding companies” is the formula for success.
Whether the new “One Microsoft” approach takes root inside a $77.8 billion company with eight business units that previously operated autonomously remains an open question. Equally challenging on the advertising front is that Microsoft, while a dominant tech force, is not exactly known as the most gifted marketer.
“For whatever reason, they’ve never found a way to tell a broad brand story that at the same time supports its product services the way IBM does,” said Len Stern, co-founder of brand consultancy SS+K in New York. “They are a great company with great talent and great products, but they need great marketing.”
Microsoft, for its part, maintains that its ad goals are attainable.
"The ability to tell more cohesive stories to consumers that are not simply related to a single individual product leads us to obviously look at what are the right partners to be able to think in a new and different way to reflect the way we want consumers to both experience and engage with our products," new chief marketing officer Chris Capossela told Adweek. "And then, obviously, how to communicate to them so they see a different kind of Microsoft than they have in the past."
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The choice is yours to make, and the benefits of accessing your data from different devices is clear.
Data on the cloud or allowing an app to access your data is not what prompted me to write this thread however.
When I installed Win10.0.122, I chose a local account by not being connected to the Internet (the only way to force creation of a local account, other than exploiting broken code in creating an MS account)
I also chose to custom install and not use the Express settings. This choice makes you go through some initial settings and select whether they are turned on or turned off.
The Privacy choices is what caught my attention. Most are run-of-the-mill choices, but the very first choice stood out as a red flag. This might simply be poor wording on the selection, or it might reflect what is commonly referred to as "Opt-in marketing", where you give explicit rights to use the information you provide to market stuff to you. If it is the latter, then you should NOT opt-in.
The question as written asks if you want to allow Microsoft access to full details of your contacts and calendars. Note that it does not say Apps or Cortana ... it says Microsoft. To allay the folks who will say "But Microsoft won't sell your data - they have too much to risk as a company" I can only say Read the agreements. Microsoft won't sell your data, but they will share it with partners - how many partners does MS have? Thousands.
There is no guaranteed security, any company can be hacked. And while MS is a reputable company, there are recent instances where some breaches of ethics occurred.
Articles:
- Microsoft's updated privacy policy makes it clear it's not selling ads against your words | PCWorld
Mark Hachman, Senior Editor PCWorld - Jun 11, 2014
...The new policy will take effect on July 31. At that time, use of Microsoft’s services will constitute opting into the agreement, Microsoft said. If you want to opt out, you’ll need to stop using the services or close your account.
Microsoft made it clear that, at least for advertising purposes, it does not listen in on your private communications. “As part of our ongoing commitment to respecting your privacy, we have updated the Microsoft Services Agreement to state that we do not use what you say in email, chat, video calls, or voice mail to target advertising to you,” the company said. “Nor do we use your documents, photos, or other personal files to target advertising to you.”
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Oh, Microsoft’s snooping, all right
But that doesn’t mean that Microsoft isn’t collecting your data at all—quite the opposite, in fact. The policy makes clear that Microsoft may ask for personal information when you sign up for a service, including your name and location.
Users also implicitly consent to Microsoft's recording their voices and other content to improve its services. “And you may provide content – your communications and your files – while using our sites and services,” the updated privacy policy states. “Content includes the words in an email in Outlook.com or the photos and documents stored on OneDrive.”
And if Microsoft doesn’t get the information it wants, it can always buy what it needs from a third-party company, it warns.
Microsoft already uses your information to improve its services. (Its digital assistant, Cortana, is governed by the privacy policy of Windows Phone.) It also uses that information to provide targeted ads—the more information an advertiser knows about you, the more interesting the ad. (A Microsoft page allows you to opt out of targeted ads.)
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Microsoft also made clear that it would not examine the contents of your email, even if it suspected users of trafficking in contraband Microsoft products, as happened earlier this year. Microsoft said then that it would simply refer the matter to law enforcement.
Here’s another no-no: If you fail to log in once a year to your Microsoft account, Microsoft will terminate your account and delete all or most of the data associated with it.
“You must sign in to your Microsoft account periodically, at a minimum every year, to keep services associated with your Microsoft account active, unless provided otherwise in an offer for a paid portion of the Services,” Microsoft’s updated services agreement states. “If you don’t sign in during this period, we will close your account (which means you won’t have access to the Windows Services, Office Services, Content stored in your account, and any other product or service that uses Microsoft account). If your Services are canceled, we will delete information or Content (as defined below) associated with your Microsoft account, or will otherwise disassociate it from you and your Microsoft account, unless the law requires us to keep it.”
Sign in, or else
It’s very possible that simply logging into your Windows PC or an app will constitute signing into your account. And frequent Windows users won’t have to worry. But for soldiers on deployment, for example, it might be something to think about.
As of now, there's no apparent mechanism for opting out of Microsoft's data collection practices, short of terminating your account and discontinuing to use Microsoft's services. And there's no indication that Microsoft is necessarily expanding its data collection practices.
Nevertheless, the simplified policies will undoubtedly be scrutinized by lawmakers and privacy advocates in the wake of Google's effort. It's worth a few minutes of your time.
...- Microsoft tightens privacy policy after admitting to reading journalist's emails | Technology | The Guardian
- Microsoft revises privacy policy in wake of Hotmail search case - CNET
- Report: Microsoft Is Shifting Its Marketing Strategy From Product-Specific Ads To Broader Consumer-Oriented Campaigns
- http://www.crn.com/news/cloud/300074...st-layoffs.htm
Microsoft legal stuff:
- Legal Resources
- Your privacy and Microsoft personalized ads
- Microsoft Services Agreement - Microsoft Windows
- We are sorry, the page you requested cannot be found.
- We are sorry, the page you requested cannot be found.
- Privacy - Microsoft - USA
- We are sorry, the page you requested cannot be found.
- Other Microsoft Products
- Windows Store Terms of Use - Microsoft Windows
- Microsoft Store - Privacy statement
- Online Advertising for Marketers and Publishers--Microsoft Advertising
- Bing Ads Help
The correlation is akin to signing up for that FREE cruise - you provide your name address and telephone number ... but you also agree to letting that data be used elsewhere.
There is nothing implied by this post, business is business.
You simply should be aware of the terms.
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