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What Does Microsoft Know About You?

A few years ago, Redmond Channel Partner (rcpmag.com) Editor-In-Chief Scott Bekker came up with a brilliant idea: Let's investigate what Microsoft knows about us as consumers and business customers and see if they cross the line.

The idea languished for so long that Bekker forgot that he even though of it! I didn't and assigned the piece to Redmond Executive Editor Lee Pender, author of the popular and feisty Pender's Blog (original, eh?).

The timing actually couldn't have been better. Google has had a heap of privacy problems, as has Facebook.

Turns out that while Microsoft may not be perfect, it does a darn good job protecting our privacy -- far, far better than Google, in my opinion.

I've seen this first hand. My group now runs TechNet and MSDN magazines, and Microsoft goes out of its way to protect the privacy of these readers.

Am I becoming a Redmond fanboy and, therefore, missing what Microsoft is up to, or is it really concerned about your privacy? You tell me at [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on July 19, 2010


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