Microsoft is committed to protecting your privacy. The Microsoft Genuine Advantage (“MGA”) program is part of an on-going effort to help protect its customers and partners from counterfeit software. Using a properly licensed, genuine copy of Microsoft software helps to ensure you will have access to all the latest features and updates from Microsoft.

If you discover that your system is not properly licensed, Microsoft would like to help you acquire a valid license. You may qualify for a discount. See the Microsoft Genuine Advantage website (http://www.microsoft.com/genuine) for details.

The MGA components are:

1. Validation, which determines whether you are running a properly licensed copy of Microsoft Software. Validation will detect and may disable or remove exploits which circumvent or tamper with Microsoft product activation, validation, or licensing. The presence of the exploits indicates that a software or hardware vendor may have tampered with genuine Microsoft software to enable the sale of counterfeit software. Such exploits may interfere with the normal operation of your software.
2. Notifications, which display periodic reminders such as whether there is a problem with your Windows license or whether a more recent service pack is available for your Windows software. At this time, the Notifications component is offered on Windows XP and Windows Vista, and in select countries, on Office XP, Office 2003 and Office 2007.

To effectively encourage the use of properly licensed software, these MGA components are designed to be a permanent part of the Microsoft software.

What data is collected?

To help you validate your software, the MGA tools must collect a certain amount of configuration information from your computer. The tools do not collect your name, address, e-mail address, or any other information that Microsoft will use to identify you or contact you.

The tools collect information such as:

• Computer make and model
• Version information for the operating system and software using Genuine Advantage
• Region and language settings
• A unique number assigned to your computer by the tools (Globally Unique Identifier or GUID)
• Product Key (hashed) and Product ID
• BIOS name, revision number, and revision date
• Hard drive volume serial number (hashed)

In addition to the configuration information above, status information, such as the following, is also transferred:

• Whether the installation was successful if one was performed
• The result of the validation check, including information about any exploits and any related malicious or unauthorized software found, disabled or removed.

If your system is identified as non-genuine, additional information may be sent to Microsoft to better understand why your system failed validation. This information can include error codes and the names and paths of files that compromise the integrity of your system.

As standard procedure, your Internet Protocol (IP) address is temporarily logged when your computer connects to an MGA website or server. These logs are routinely deleted.

Software piracy is a worldwide problem. To help spot possible systematic abuse of product licenses, certain information about the computer being validated is derived from its IP address. This information includes geographical location, ISP (Internet service provider) and domain name. The smallest geographical unit that can be resolved is a city. This resolution is done using data provided from a third party. Any collected data that could identify a user will not be used to contact the user. This data may be retained for the sales life-cycle of the product.

How is this data used?

We use the information to

• Help prevent improperly licensed use of the software
• Improve our software and services
• Develop aggregate statistics.

We may also share aggregate data with others, such as hardware and software vendors and volume licensees to help protect their license keys.

What controls are available?

Users may customize some aspects of the Notifications component on Windows XP. If the component is installed, right-click the Notifications icon in the system tray for more information on available controls.

Changes to the Privacy Statement

We may occasionally update this privacy statement. When we do, we will revise the "last updated" date at the top of the privacy statement. We encourage you to periodically review this privacy statement to be informed of how Microsoft is protecting your information.

For More Information

If you have questions about this privacy statement, please contact us by using our web form at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83260.

Microsoft Privacy
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, Washington 98052