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Passport May Violate Euro Privacy

Posted by timothy on from the if-you-have-nothing-to-hide dept.

good-n-nappy writes: "More shocking news about Passport. The EU thinks Passport may violate privacy. Of course, Microsoft claims that all data is supplied voluntarily (for now... cue evil laugh). Too bad we in the U.S. will likely have to continue sacrificing privacy for national security." Part of a continuing series.

5 of 20 comments (clear)

  1. Excuse the ignorance... by MImeKillEr · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...but it was explained to me by a friend who uses Passport that one of its main features was to sheild consumers from having to give their credit card information to every webfront said user purchases from. Instead, the webfront is given a confirmation number on the transaction. I ask you, how exactly does this make MS evil? Having never used Passport, I'm relying on his view for this (and seeing as how I've known him for 15 years, he's in the tech market, knows his stuff, etc...)

    How about a little less (right!) biased comments for the stories from the staff?

    Mod away. My karma's good.

    --
    Cruising the internet on my TI-99/4A @ a whopping 300 baud!
    1. Re:Excuse the ignorance... by MImeKillEr · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Ahh, but it was also explained to me that MS doesn't actually gather such data, and that the information is actually obtained by a 3rd party.

      To quote my buddy's email:

      "But people were worried that MS would track peoples spending habits if they had your CC info. Well they contract it out to a 3rd party organization that provides absolutely no data to MS on spending habits, etc..

      Just who exactly the 3rd party is, I don't know. Again, I'm ignorant when it comes to Passport, as I don't use it.

      --
      Cruising the internet on my TI-99/4A @ a whopping 300 baud!
    2. Re:Excuse the ignorance... by good-n-nappy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You're still dodging the obvious question - what does MS get out of the deal? I suppose they're doing this for philanthropic reasons, right?

      The real reason this is a threat to privacy isn't as obvious in the short term. Its the same as the Oracle (tm) national ID card in the US. Only once it is an accepted standard will the true abuse begin.

      Your buddy is correct about how the system is supposed to work, but wait till MS changes the EULA. Do you really trust MS not to do this? If you do, then you or your buddy works for them.

      --
      Never underestimate the power of fiber.
    3. Re:Excuse the ignorance... by dirk · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You're still dodging the obvious question - what does MS get out of the deal? I suppose they're doing this for philanthropic reasons, right?

      I am assuming here, but what they would be gaining would be websites paying to use the Passport service. As Passport takes off, more and more websites sign up to use it, and (I'm assuming here, but it makes perfect sense) pay MS for the use of the Passport service. It works like a credit card service, where the consumer pays nothing for it, because the business pays the fees up front. So yes, they are doing it to make money, just like Visa would be.

      --

      "Information wants to be expensive" - Stewart Brand, the same guy who said "Information wants to be free"
  2. MS Privacy?!? by ChiPHeaD23 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Even if MS had a great privacy policy (which it doesn't), how safe can you be trusting them with personal data? Their history of insecurity makes me think twice about telling them anything. Remember the Hotmail exploit a few years back? What happens when someone cracks Passport server?

    As far as MS can tell I'm still an old lady from Qatar...