Code of Conduct

Member Qualifications

The Services are designed for individuals 13 years of age or older. As a user of the service you will uphold this Code of Conduct, and are responsible for all activities and content you post/upload. In addition to upholding this Code of Conduct, you are responsible for adhering to all applicable local and national laws.

Prohibited Uses

You will not upload, post, transmit, transfer, distribute or facilitate distribution of any content (including text, images, sound, video, data, information or software) or otherwise use the service in a way that:

• depicts nudity of any sort including full or partial human nudity or nudity in non-human forms such as cartoons, fantasy art or manga.
• incites, advocates, or expresses pornography, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity, hatred, bigotry, racism, or gratuitous violence.
• misrepresents the source of anything you post or upload, including impersonation of another individual or entity.
• provides or creates links to external sites that violate this Code of Conduct.
• includes content that is protected by intellectual property laws, rights of privacy or publicity, or any other applicable law unless you own or control the rights thereto or have received all necessary consents.
• is intended to harm or exploit minors in any way.
• is designed to solicit, or collect personally identifiable information of any minor (anyone under 18 years old), including, but not limited to: name, email address, home address, phone number, or the name of their school.
• invades anyone's privacy by attempting to harvest, collect, store, or publish private or personally identifiable information, such as passwords, account information, credit card numbers, addresses, or other contact information without their knowledge and willing consent.
• is illegal or violates any applicable local and national laws; including but not limited to child pornography, bestiality, incest, illegal drugs, unauthorized use of copyrighted material, invasions of privacy, software piracy, and harassment.
• threatens, stalks, defames, defrauds, degrades, victimizes or intimidates an individual or group of individuals for any reason; including on the basis of age, gender, disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation, race or religion; or incites or encourages anyone else to do so.
• harms or disrupts, or intends to harm or disrupt, another user's computer or would allow you or others to illegally access software or bypass security on Web sites, or servers, including but not limited to spamming.
• attempts to impersonate a Microsoft employee, agent, manager, host, administrator, moderator, another user or any other person though any means.
• promotes or otherwise facilitates the purchase and sale of ammunition or firearms.
• contains or could be considered 'junk mail', 'spam', 'chain letters', 'pyramid schemes', 'affiliate marketing' or unsolicited commercial advertisement.
• mischaracterizes content you post or upload or contains the same or similar content to other content you have already posted.
• attempts to manipulate the services, including ranking and reputation systems in the services, by violating any of the provisions of this Code of Conduct, colluding with others on voting or using multiple profiles.
• offers to make international money transfers for amounts exceeding the asking price of an item, with intent to request a refund of any portion of the payment.
• contains advertising for money making schemes, discount cards, credit counseling, online surveys or online contests.

You will not use any form of automated device or computer program that enables the submission of postings without the express written consent of Microsoft Corporation.

Termination and Cancellation

Microsoft reserves the right, at its sole discretion, and without any obligation to do so, to review and remove user-created services and content at will and without notice, and delete content and accounts. Microsoft reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to ban participants or terminate access to services.

Rights and Responsibilities

We encourage you not to share information that others could use to harm you. We encourage parents to be aware of and help exercise control over content posted by and activities of their children to keep them safe online.

Microsoft is not responsible for the content of any user-created posting, listing or message. The decision to view content or engage with others is yours. We advise you to use your judgment. You are responsible for protecting your computer against interference, spyware or viruses that may be encountered for downloaded items from the service. We recommend you install a virus protection program on your computer and keep it up to date.

Microsoft reserves the right to amend or change the Code of Conduct or any service at any time without notice. We encourage you to periodically review these guidelines to ensure you are in compliance. Some information you provide or upload to the service may be stored outside of the country in which you reside.

Don't pretend to be someone you're not

• Do not attempt to impersonate any other person through any means.
• Do not misrepresent the source of anything you post.
• Use of multiple accounts to boost reputation or obtain extra votes is prohibited. Asking questions with one profile and answering them with another is expressly prohibited.
• Use of the same profile by more than one person is also prohibited.
• Do not misrepresent your age if you are under the age of 18.

Terms of Use

The services that Microsoft provides to you are subject to the following Terms of Use ("TOU"). Microsoft reserves the right to update the TOU at any time without notice to you. The most current version of the TOU can be reviewed by clicking on the "Terms of Use" hypertext link located at the bottom of our Web pages.

Description of Services

Throughout this Web site, Microsoft provides you with access to a variety of resources, including download areas, communication forums and product information (collectively "Services"). The Services, including any updates, enhancements, and/or new features, are subject to the TOU.

Privacy and Protection of Personal Information

See the Privacy Statement disclosures relating to the collection and use of your information.

Notice specific to software available on this web site

Any software that is made available to download from the Services ("Software") is the copyrighted work of Microsoft, its suppliers and/or other registered users of the Services. Use of the Software is governed by the terms of the end user license agreement, if any, which accompanies or is included with the Software ("License Agreement"). An end user will be unable to install any Software that is accompanied by or includes a License Agreement, unless he or she first agrees to the License Agreement terms.

The Software is made available for download solely for use by end users according to the License Agreement. Any reproduction or redistribution of the Software not in accordance with the License Agreement is expressly prohibited by law, and may result in severe civil and criminal penalties. Violators will be prosecuted to the maximum extent possible.

WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, COPYING OR REPRODUCTION OF THE SOFTWARE TO ANY OTHER SERVER OR LOCATION FOR FURTHER REPRODUCTION OR REDISTRIBUTION IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED, UNLESS SUCH REPRODUCTION OR REDISTRIBUTION IS EXPRESSLY PERMITTED BY THE LICENSE AGREEMENT ACCOMPANYING SUCH SOFTWARE. THE SOFTWARE IS WARRANTED, IF AT ALL, ONLY ACCORDING TO THE TERMS OF THE LICENSE AGREEMENT. EXCEPT AS WARRANTED IN THE LICENSE AGREEMENT, MICROSOFT CORPORATION HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS WITH REGARD TO THE SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE, MICROSOFT MAY MAKE AVAILABLE AS PART OF THE SERVICES OR IN ITS SOFTWARE PRODUCTS, TOOLS AND UTILITIES FOR USE AND/OR DOWNLOAD. MICROSOFT DOES NOT MAKE ANY ASSURANCES WITH REGARD TO THE ACCURACY OF THE RESULTS OR OUTPUT THAT DERIVES FROM SUCH USE OF ANY SUCH TOOLS AND UTILITIES. PLEASE RESPECT THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS OF OTHERS WHEN USING THE TOOLS AND UTILITIES MADE AVAILABLE ON THE SERVICES OR IN MICROSOFT SOFTWARE PRODUCTS.

Restricted Rights Legend

Any Software which is downloaded from the Services for or on behalf of the United States of America, its agencies and/or instrumentalities ("U.S. Government"), is provided with Restricted Rights. Use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013 or subparagraphs (c)(1) and (2) of the Commercial Computer Software - Restricted Rights at 48 CFR 52.227-19, as applicable. Manufacturer is Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399.

Notice specific to documents available on this site

Permission to use Documents (such as white papers, press releases, datasheets and FAQs) from the Services is granted, provided that (1) the below copyright notice appears in all copies and that both the copyright notice and this permission notice appear, (2) use of such Documents from the Services is for informational and non-commercial or personal use only and will not be copied or posted on any network computer or broadcast in any media, and (3) no modifications of any Documents are made. Accredited educational institutions, such as K-12, universities, private/public colleges, and state community colleges, may download and reproduce the Documents for distribution in the classroom. Distribution outside the classroom requires express written permission. Use for any other purpose is expressly prohibited by law, and may result in severe civil and criminal penalties. Violators will be prosecuted to the maximum extent possible.

Documents specified above do not include the design or layout of the Channel9.msdn.com Web site or any other Microsoft owned, operated, licensed or controlled site. Elements of Microsoft Web sites are protected by trade dress, trademark, unfair competition, and other laws and may not be copied or imitated in whole or in part. No logo, graphic, sound or image from any Microsoft Web site may be copied or retransmitted unless expressly permitted by Microsoft.

MICROSOFT AND/OR ITS RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE SUITABILITY OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE DOCUMENTS AND RELATED GRAPHICS PUBLISHED AS PART OF THE SERVICES FOR ANY PURPOSE. ALL SUCH DOCUMENTS AND RELATED GRAPHICS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT AND/OR ITS RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS WITH REGARD TO THIS INFORMATION, INCLUDING ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT AND/OR ITS RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF INFORMATION AVAILABLE FROM THE SERVICES. THE DOCUMENTS AND RELATED GRAPHICS PUBLISHED ON THE SERVICES COULD INCLUDE TECHNICAL INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. CHANGES ARE PERIODICALLY ADDED TO THE INFORMATION HEREIN. MICROSOFT AND/OR ITS RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS MAY MAKE IMPROVEMENTS AND/OR CHANGES IN THE PRODUCT(S) AND/OR THE PROGRAM(S) DESCRIBED HEREIN AT ANY TIME.

NOTICES REGARDING SOFTWARE, DOCUMENTS AND SERVICES AVAILABLE ON THIS WEB SITE.

IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT AND/OR ITS RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF SOFTWARE, DOCUMENTS, PROVISION OF OR FAILURE TO PROVIDE SERVICES, OR INFORMATION AVAILABLE FROM THE SERVICES.

Member Account, Password and Security

If any of the Services requires you to open an account, you must complete the registration process by providing us with current, complete and accurate information as prompted by the applicable registration form. You also will choose a password and a user name. You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and account. Furthermore, you are entirely responsible for any and all activities that occur under your account. You agree to notify Microsoft immediately of any unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security. Microsoft will not be liable for any loss that you may incur as a result of someone else using your password or account, either with or without your knowledge. However, you could be held liable for losses incurred by Microsoft or another party due to someone else using your account or password. You may not use anyone else's account at any time, without the permission of the account holder.

NO UNLAWFUL OR PROHIBITED USE.

As a condition of your use of the Services, you will not use the Services for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these terms, conditions, and notices. You may not use the Services in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair any Microsoft server, or the network(s) connected to any Microsoft server, or interfere with any other party's use and enjoyment of any Services. You may not attempt to gain unauthorized access to any Services, other accounts, computer systems or networks connected to any Microsoft server or to any of the Services, through hacking, password mining or any other means. You may not obtain or attempt to obtain any materials or information through any means not intentionally made available through the Services.

USE OF SERVICES.

The Services may contain bulletin board services, chat areas, news groups, forums, communities, and/or other message or communication facilities designed to enable you to communicate with others (each a "Communication Service" and collectively "Communication Services"). You agree to use the Communication Services only to post, send and receive messages and material that are proper and, when applicable, related to the particular Communication Service. By way of example, and not as a limitation, you agree that when using the Communication Services, you will not:

• Use the Communication Services in connection with surveys, contests, pyramid schemes, chain letters, junk email, spamming or any duplicative or unsolicited messages (commercial or otherwise).
• Defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or otherwise violate the legal rights (such as rights of privacy and publicity) of others.
• Publish, post, upload, distribute or disseminate any inappropriate, profane, defamatory, obscene, indecent or unlawful topic, name, material or information.
• Upload, or otherwise make available, files that contain images, photographs, software or other material protected by intellectual property laws, including, by way of example, and not as limitation, copyright or trademark laws (or by rights of privacy or publicity) unless you own or control the rights thereto or have received all necessary consent to do the same.
• Use any material or information, including images or photographs, which are made available through the Services in any manner that infringes any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other proprietary right of any party.
• Upload files that contain viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancelbots, corrupted files, or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of another's computer or property of another.
• Advertise or offer to sell or buy any goods or services for any business purpose, unless such Communication Services specifically allows such messages.
• Download any file posted by another user of a Communication Service that you know, or reasonably should know, cannot be legally reproduced, displayed, performed, and/or distributed in such manner.
• Falsify or delete any copyright management information, such as author attributions, legal or other proper notices or proprietary designations or labels of the origin or source of software or other material contained in a file that is uploaded.
• Restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the Communication Services.
• Violate any code of conduct or other guidelines which may be applicable for any particular Communication Service.
• Harvest or otherwise collect information about others, including e-mail addresses.
• Violate any applicable laws or regulations.
• Create a false identity for the purpose of misleading others.
• Use, download or otherwise copy, or provide (whether or not for a fee) to a person or entity any directory of users of the Services or other user or usage information or any portion thereof.

Materials provided to Microsoft or posted to any Microsoft Web site

Microsoft does not claim ownership of the materials you provide to Microsoft (including feedback and suggestions) or post, upload, input or submit to any Services or its associated services for review by the general public, or by the members of any public or private community, (each a "Submission" and collectively "Submissions"). However, by posting, uploading, inputting, providing or submitting ("Posting") your Submission you understand and agree that you’re giving a license under your intellectual property rights to all authorized users, including the rights to download, copy, modify, distribute and repost. In addition, you’re giving Microsoft all the necessary rights to make your Submission(s) available on this site.

No compensation will be paid with respect to the use of your Submission, as provided herein. Microsoft is under no obligation to post or use any Submission you may provide and Microsoft may remove any Submission at any time in its sole discretion.

By Posting a Submission you warrant and represent that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to your Submission as described in these Terms of Use including, without limitation, all the rights necessary for you to provide, post, upload, input or submit the Submissions.

In addition to the warranty and representation set forth above, by Posting a Submission that contain images, photographs, pictures or that are otherwise graphical in whole or in part ("Images"), you warrant and represent that (a) you are the copyright owner of such Images, or that the copyright owner of such Images has granted you permission to use such Images or any content and/or images contained in such Images consistent with the manner and purpose of your use and as otherwise permitted by these Terms of Use and the Services, (b) you have the rights necessary to grant the licenses and sublicenses described in these Terms of Use, and (c) that each person depicted in such Images, if any, has provided consent to the use of the Images as set forth in these Terms of Use, including, by way of example, and not as a limitation, the distribution, public display and reproduction of such Images. By Posting Images, you are granting (a) to all members of your private community (for each such Images available to members of such private community), and/or (b) to the general public (for each such Images available anywhere on the Services, other than a private community), permission to use your Images in connection with the use, as permitted by these Terms of Use, of any of the Services, (including, by way of example, and not as a limitation, making prints and gift items which include such Images), and including, without limitation, a non-exclusive, world-wide, royalty-free license to: copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, translate and reformat your Images without having your name attached to such Images, and the right to sublicense such rights to any supplier of the Services. The licenses granted in the preceding sentences for a Images will terminate at the time you completely remove such Images from the Services, provided that, such termination shall not affect any licenses granted in connection with such Images prior to the time you completely remove such Images. No compensation will be paid with respect to the use of your Images.

NOTICES AND PROCEDURE FOR MAKING CLAIMS OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT.

Pursuant to Title 17, United States Code, Section 512(c)(2), notifications of claimed copyright infringement should be sent to Service Provider's Designated Agent. ALL INQUIRIES NOT RELEVANT TO THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURE WILL NOT RECEIVE A RESPONSE. See Notice and Procedure for Making Claims of Copyright Infringement.

LINKS TO THIRD PARTY SITES.

THE LINKS IN THIS AREA WILL LET YOU LEAVE MICROSOFT'S SITE. THE LINKED SITES ARE NOT UNDER THE CONTROL OF MICROSOFT AND MICROSOFT IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENTS OF ANY LINKED SITE OR ANY LINK CONTAINED IN A LINKED SITE, OR ANY CHANGES OR UPDATES TO SUCH SITES. MICROSOFT IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR WEBCASTING OR ANY OTHER FORM OF TRANSMISSION RECEIVED FROM ANY LINKED SITE. MICROSOFT IS PROVIDING THESE LINKS TO YOU ONLY AS A CONVENIENCE, AND THE INCLUSION OF ANY LINK DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT BY MICROSOFT OF THE SITE.

UNSOLICITED IDEA SUBMISSION POLICY.

MICROSOFT OR ANY OF ITS EMPLOYEES DO NOT ACCEPT OR CONSIDER UNSOLICITED IDEAS, INCLUDING IDEAS FOR NEW ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS, NEW PROMOTIONS, NEW PRODUCTS OR TECHNOLOGIES, PROCESSES, MATERIALS, MARKETING PLANS OR NEW PRODUCT NAMES. PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANY ORIGINAL CREATIVE ARTWORK, SAMPLES, DEMOS, OR OTHER WORKS. THE SOLE PURPOSE OF THIS POLICY IS TO AVOID POTENTIAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS OR DISPUTES WHEN MICROSOFT'S PRODUCTS OR MARKETING STRATEGIES MIGHT SEEM SIMILAR TO IDEAS SUBMITTED TO MICROSOFT. SO, PLEASE DO NOT SEND YOUR UNSOLICITED IDEAS TO MICROSOFT OR ANYONE AT MICROSOFT. IF, DESPITE OUR REQUEST THAT YOU NOT SEND US YOUR IDEAS AND MATERIALS, YOU STILL SEND THEM, PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT MICROSOFT MAKES NO ASSURANCES THAT YOUR IDEAS AND MATERIALS WILL BE TREATED AS CONFIDENTIAL OR PROPRIETARY.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE.

Copyright © 2002 Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington 98052-6399 U.S.A. All rights reserved.

TRADEMARKS.

Active Channel, Active Desktop, Active Directory, ActiveStore, ActiveSync, ActiveX, Advisor FYI, Age of Empires, Age of Mythology, Allegiance, Amped, Asheron's Call, Ask Maxwell, Authenticode, Azurik, BackOffice, BackOffice logo, bCentral, BizTalk, Bookshelf, CarPoint, ClearLead, Computing Central, Crimson Skies, Developer Studio, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay, DirectSound, DirectX, Encarta, Entourage, Fighter Ace, FrontPage, HomeAdvisor, Home Essentials, Hotmail, Links, Links Extreme, MapPoint, MechCommander, MechWarrior, Microsoft, Microsoft Agent logo, Microsoft Internet Explorer logo, Microsoft Office Compatible logo, Microsoft Press, Microsoft TV logo, Midtown Madness, Mobile Explorer, MoneyCentral, Monster Truck Madness, Motocross Madness, MSDN, MSN, MSN logo (butterfly), .Net logo, NetMeeting, Nightcaster, Outlook, Outsmart, Passport logo, Picture It!, PowerPoint, Precision Racing, Project Gotham Racing, Revenge of Arcade, Rise of Perathia, SharePoint, Slate, Tex Murphy, The Age of Kings, The Everyday Web, Trekker, UltimateTV, UltimateTV logo, UltraCorps, UnderWire, Urban Assault, VGA, Virtual Golf Association, Visio, Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual C#, Visual InterDev, Visual J++, Visual Studio, WebTV, Where do you want to go today?, Windows, Windows logo, Windows Media, Windows Media logo, Windows NT, Xbox, XBOX logo, Xbox "X" logo, ZoneFriends, ZoneLAN, ZoneMatch, ZoneMessage, Zoo Tycoon, and/or other Microsoft products referenced herein are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. The example companies, organizations, products, domain names, email addresses, logos, people and events depicted herein are fictitious. No association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, or event is intended or should be inferred.

Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.

Send your questions to the appropriate contact as listed below:

• Microsoft Web properties, contact homepage@microsoft.com
• MSN Web properties, contact webmaster@msn.com
• Hotmail, contact support@hotmail.com
  for spam/privacy issues, contact abuse@hotmail.com or hotmailprivacy@hotmail.com
• Piracy questions can be routed to piracy@microsoft.com or by calling 1-800-R-U-LEGIT.

Privacy Statement

Last updated: October 2009

Microsoft is committed to protecting your privacy. This privacy statement applies to the data collected by Microsoft through the Mix Online site (the “Site”) hosted for Microsoft by ORCS WEB, Inc.; it does not apply to other online or offline Microsoft sites, products, or services.

Collection of Your Information

We will ask you when we need information that personally identifies you or allows us to contact you. The personal information we collect may include your name, e-mail address, date and time you visit the Site.

We may collect information about your visit, including the pages you view, the links you click, and other actions you take in connection with the Site. We also collect certain standard information that your browser sends to every Web site you visit, such as your IP address, browser type and language, access times, and referring Web site addresses.

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.

Use of Your Information

The information collected on this Site will be used to operate the Site and to provide the service(s) or carry out the transaction(s) you have requested or authorized.

In support of these uses, Microsoft may use your information to provide you with more effective customer service, improve the Site and any related Microsoft products or services, perform statistical analysis, and make the Site easier to use by eliminating the need for you to repeatedly enter the same information or by customizing the Site to your particular preferences or interests.

We may use your information to provide you with important information about the product or service that you are using, including critical updates and notifications. Additionally, with your permission, we may send you information about other Microsoft products and services, and/or share your personal information with Microsoft partners so they may send you information about their products and services.

Microsoft occasionally hires other companies to provide limited services on our behalf, such as Web site hosting, packaging, mailing, and delivering prizes, answering customer questions about products and services, and sending information about our products, special offers, and other new 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 that information for any other purpose.

We 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 on the Site 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.

Control of Your Personal Information

Except as otherwise described in this statement, personal information you provide on the Site will not be shared outside of Microsoft and its controlled subsidiaries and affiliates without your permission.

Please be aware that this privacy statement and any choices you make on the Site will not necessarily apply to personal information you may have provided to Microsoft in the context of other, separately operated, Microsoft products or services.

Access to Your Personal Information

Customer information is collected by ORCS WEB, Inc., a Microsoft vendor. It is stored at ORCS WEB, Inc., plus sent back to Microsoft. You can review and edit the personal information you provided at this Site by sending e-mail to support@orcsweb.com or writing to:

ORCS WEB, Inc.
PMB 248
3020-I Prosperity
Church Road
Charlotte NC 28269

Security of Your Information

At Microsoft, we take the security of your personal information very seriously. 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 servers with limited access that are located in controlled facilities. Additionally, if we transmit sensitive personal information (such as a credit card number) over the Internet, we protect it through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol.

Use of Cookies

We may use cookies on this Site to enable you to sign in to our services or to help personalize the Site. A cookie is a small text file that is placed on your hard disk by a Web 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. One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature to save you time. For example, if you personalize a Web page, or navigate within a site, a cookie helps the site to recall your specific information on subsequent visits. This simplifies the process of delivering relevant content, eases site navigation, and so on. When you return to the Web site, the information you previously provided can be retrieved, so you can easily use the site's features that you customized.

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 are using Internet Explorer, search for “Cookies” in the Help menu to find detailed instructions. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to use interactive features of this or other Web sites that depend on cookies.

Use of Web Beacons

Pages on this Site may contain electronic images known as Web beacons - sometimes called single-pixel gifs - that may be used to assist in delivering cookies, to allow us to count users who have visited those pages, and to deliver co-branded services. We may also 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 or other operations of our sites. We prohibit Web beacons on our sites from being used by third parties to collect or access your personal information. We may work with other companies that advertise on our sites to place Web beacons on their sites in order to allow us to develop statistics on how often clicking on an advertisement on a Microsoft site results in a purchase or other action on the advertiser's site.

Display of Advertising

Many of the Web sites and online services we offer, as well as those of our partners, are supported by advertising. Through our ad delivery platform, we may display ads on our own sites and the sites of our advertising partners.

When we display online advertisements to you, we will place a persistent cookie on your computer in order to recognize your computer each time we display an ad to you. Because we may serve advertisements on many different Web sites, we are able to compile information over time about where you, or others who are using your computer, saw and/or clicked on the advertisements we display. We use this information to make predictions about your characteristics, interests, or preferences, and to display targeted advertisements that we believe may be of interest to you. We may also associate this information with your subsequent visit, purchase, or other activity on participating advertisers’ Web sites in order to determine the effectiveness of the advertisements.

While we may use some of the information we collect in order to personalize the ads we show you, we designed our systems to select ads based only on data that does not personally and directly identify you. For example, we may select the ads we display according to certain general interest categories or segments that we have inferred based on (a) demographic or interest data, including any you may have provided when creating an account (e.g. age, zip or postal code, and gender), demographic or interest data acquired from other companies, and a general geographic location derived from your IP address; (b) the pages you view and links you click when using Microsoft’s and its advertising partners’ Web sites and services; and (c) the search terms you enter when using Microsoft’s Internet search services, such as Live Search.

As we serve ads, we take a number of steps designed to protect your privacy. For example, we store page views, clicks, and search terms used for ad personalization separately from your contact information or other data that directly identifies you (such as your name, e-mail address, etc.). Further, we have built in administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to prevent the unauthorized correlation of this data. We also give you the ability to opt-out of personalized ads. For more information or to use the opt-out feature, you may visit our opt-out page.

We also provide third party ad delivery through our Atlas subsidiary, and you may read the Atlas privacy statement at http://www.atlassolutions.com/privacy.aspx.

Although the majority of the online advertisements on Microsoft sites are displayed by Microsoft, we also allow third-party ad-serving companies, including other ad networks, to display advertisements on our sites. These companies currently include, but are not limited to, 24/7 Real Media, Platform-A, Bidclix, BlueStreak, Burst Media, DoubleClick, EuroClick, Eyeblaster, EyeWonder, Interpolls, Kanoodle, Mediaplex, PointRoll, Yahoo! Publisher Network, and Zedo.

These companies may offer you a way to opt out of ad targeting based on their cookies. You may find more information by clicking on the company names above and following the links to the Web sites of each company. Some of these companies are members of the Network Advertising Initiative, which offers a single location to opt out of ad targeting from member companies.

Changes to this Privacy Statement

We may occasionally update this privacy statement. When we do, we will also revise the "last updated" date at the top of the privacy statement. For material changes to this privacy statement, we will notify you either by placing a prominent notice on the home page of our Web site or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to periodically review this privacy statement to stay informed about how we are helping to protect the personal information we collect.

Contact 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 by email or by postal mail at:

Nishant Kothary
One Microsoft Way
Redmond
WA 98052