Microsoft Executive Vice President Terry Myerson posted a clarifying statement in the company blog on Tuesday in an effort to be more transparent about Windows 10 data collection practices after some privacy advocates found them troubling.
Myerson emphasized that the information Microsoft collects is encrypted and doesn't include personal identifiers, content or files.
Microsoft views data that it does and doesn't collect at three levels, “safety and reliability data”, “personalization data” and “advertising data we don't collect,” Myerson said in the blog.
The “safety and reliability data” has already been used to fix a bug that caused some PCs to crash and reboot, according to the post. Myerson said personalization data is used for recommending apps, text completion suggestions, and other things the user may like. What is not done, Myersson said, is scan emails or personal messages to deliver targeting advertising.
