Microsoft has updated its privacy policy with the inclusion of a new section on “Enterprise Products.”

According to the company, the term “Enterprise Products” relates to all of the company’s products and services that are designed for organizations and developers, and include “subscription cloud services, such as Office 365, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, Microsoft Intune, and Yammer,” as well as products that can be run on-premises, such as “Windows Server, SQL Server, Visual Studio, and System Center.”

One thing Microsoft’s updated policy makes very clear is that the company is now collecting lots and lots of user data, including some you would expect, and also some you wouldn’t. For instance, the policy reveals that Microsoft now gathers data such as the time and dates of your Skype calls, as well as the identities of the person you spoke with. Meanwhile the notification feature that reveals who is calling you is provided by “another company” that has its own privacy policy.

“Microsoft is not responsible for the data collected by [the] company providing the notification service,” the policy reads. For those who don’t like it, Microsoft reassures them that the notification feature can be turned off.

Cortana is also extremely data hungry. It can access information on just about everything you do with your PC, as Microsoft explains: “When Cortana is connected to a third-party service, it can also send data to that service to enable the connected service.”

So it can, for example, send information to LinkedIn about who you meet, or it can tell Uber where you are located.

Microsoft also shares data it collects with some third-parties, apparently for security reasons and in response to legal requests from government agencies. It also shares some of your data with affiliates, subsidiaries and “vendors working on your behalf.”

Enterprise data collection

Under the new “Enterprise Products” section, Microsoft explains that it collects data when customers engage with a sales rep, support professional, and when they report an error or problem. It also collects data whenever a customer receives communications from Microsoft, or when they pay for a product or service.

Microsoft’s online services also collect data from both administrators and customers. In the case of customers, this means “all data, including all text, sound, video, or image files, and software, that are provided to Microsoft by, or on behalf of, you or your end users through use of the Online Service.” Microsoft says it uses this data to provide online services and related purposes, for example by providing more personalized experiences, but will not use it for advertising purposes.

In the case of administrator data, this is collected by Microsoft in order to contact users about things such as billing, new features, subscriptions, updates and more, and to provide offers from third-parties. If allowed, Microsoft will also use admin data to contact your “friends and colleagues” in order to invite them to use the same online services.

“We may contact those individuals with communications that may include information about you, such as your name and profile photo,” the privacy policy states.

Last but not least, Microsoft also collects data from some on-premises products in order to provide better experiences and help ensure equipment runs effectively.

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