Posted by Peter Cullen Chief Privacy Strategist
Any discussion of online privacy today can quickly become polarized and shed more heat than light. It is clear that privacy remains a key topic and also clear the discussion centers on finding the right balance of investments by both companies and the advertising industry that will provide meaningful choice, control and protection for the consumer’s information and that contribute to growing consumer trust and which supports the content to which people have grown accustomed. Privacy by Design is but one investment area receiving a lot of dialogue. Today we announced functionality we intend to provide in IE9 that both advances and demonstrates Privacy by Design and provides consumers with more choices to control information about their online activities. However, the industry together can also continue to contribute additional investments that will help grow trust.
We have sought leave of the court to amend our complaint to add Vertro Inc. as another defendant involved as an upstream provider of illegitimate click traffic for RedOrbit.
There is little doubt that 2010 will go down in history as a significant year for creativity and invention at Microsoft.
We’ve released numerous compelling offerings this year, including Office 2010, Windows Phone 7, Kinect, cloud computing solutions such as Windows Azure and Office 365 and ongoing enhancements to Bing. People are excited about the new experiences we’re enabling.
The New York Times has praised Kinect for delivering a user-experience that “no other company or system can even dream of providing.” Gizmodo has called Windows Phone 7 “the most exciting thing to happen to phones in a long time.”
Posted by Brendon Lynch
Chief Privacy Officer, Microsoft
The Federal Trade Commission today released a major report on consumer privacy online. You can read the report here.
Microsoft has long recognized the critical importance of privacy to our customers. Our internal tools and processes help ensure that privacy is incorporated into Microsoft products and services.
Internet Explorer 8 has some of the most robust privacy features on the market, including being the first to introduce InPrivate Browsing, rich integrated cookie controls, and still being the only browser to offer consumers InPrivate Filtering. Internet Explorer 9 will continue this focus and leadership on enabling our customers’ choice and control with respect to their online privacy.
We appreciate the Federal Trade Commission’s efforts to advance consumer privacy protections and welcome the opportunity to review the FTC’s Privacy Report. We were pleased to participate in the series of roundtables that formed the basis for the report, and support the FTC’s continued work to engage all interested stakeholders on these important issues.