What does Microsoft do with my contacts list?

DaviesTigger, please let me confirm one aspect of your post above.

Did you go to this page?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/about

And then, did you see a bit down that page the big blue banner with the title?

Free Upgrade Offer*

And then see the little box for:

Sign up for email

Because I just checked at my end and that "We want to access your contacts list" was not showing, but I am on the other side of the planet and so I am now wondering if those of you with a UK IP address are still seeing the old page which was the subject of this thread and which I thought there had been a rethink at Microsoft about.

Or maybe you found another page that has that "Gimme your contacts list" thingy?

In other words, do we still have a problem?

And I really mean "we" because even if they changed it for some people in some countries, but didn't change it for everyone, "WE" still have a problem.  We are all in this together, in my view, no matter on what part of Earth one lives.  Or even if you are up there in that space station.

So I guess I need some help understanding this latest development, DaviesTigger.  Or anyone else that may be seeing what DaviesTigger is seeing.

Thank you, everyone, for the help!

HFM47, I salute you!  Having just tried to sign up for Windows10 emails today I hit that same "****!" moment when seeing the improved permissions screen, and thus hit google to seek out information, and ended up here. 

You asked "Why does Microsoft need my friend's name and address to send me product information?" but I would perhaps refine that to "Why does Microsoft need anything other than my own email address to send me product information?"

We are constantly urged to safeguard our data, to take security seriously, etc and yet key players such as Microsoft merrily require their customers to grant unfettered access to some unknown external company! That's bad enough, as you pointed out, but the more important issue from my perspective is that this attitude renders it almost impossible for vulnerable users to differentiate between a genuine, trustworthy company (or even Microsoft), and some scumbag con artists following a clever script to fleece our elderly relatives!

I am in the UK, and have had similar issue with my telecoms provider who continue to see no problem cold-calling me to offer me a 'wonderful special offer' but then asking me to reveal 2 characters of my password before they even tell me what it is! If I were a scamster it'd only take a few calls to get the entire password!  So it's not just Microsoft playing fast and loose with 'best practice'!

Nevertheless I admire your dogged determination despite those who insist on missing the point.  I wish you well and am naive enough to hope someone in MS eventually gives you a direct response!

Way to go Microsoft, that's the spirit!

Congratulations HFM47 for your persistence, you have convinced them to delete a few lines on a web page.

Of course that doesn't change anything ,They will still mine your data and send it to You-know-who.

But if I were you I would not worry too much. After all the data They collect about you and your friends/family that may or may not find its way (like the Ring of Power always tried to find its way to Sauron) to your US governmental organizations would be handled with care and used only in the best interests of the US citizens and to protect them. I'm sure you, as a former military understand that ;-)

@HFM47 ,

From reading here and elsewhere I'm now confident the app requirement to Access your email addresses is my email address(es) only (and not my gender, birthday, location etc.)

Thank you again for your persistence with this. I will not speculate why the requirements changed. ;-)

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Hans

Hans, I strongly suspect you are correct in that view, but I sincerely don't see what harm it would do for this company's image to answer the question and set everyone's mind completely at rest.

I mean, can't we find reminders all over the many Microsoft pages to be careful about privacy and security and such like that?

Well, that's all we're doing here -- being careful.  What possible plus is there for the company to ignore the question?

In fact, the failure to definitively set our minds at rest probably does more harm than good.  It also gives the impression that maybe the company doesn't have enough employees to be able to notice and answer such questions here on this site.  I don't think that is so good, either.  Like I wrote over in another thread, peer-to-peer can only go so far.  There are times, and Microsoft knows it -- there are times when the employees have to post.  Some have already been posting around here.  I mean actual employees, not the contract workers that I am afraid are sometimes not doing such great work here and there.

Let me qualify that last thought, please.  Most of the time I think we are okay with trusting the contract workers, but sometimes they get is wrong.  Sometimes it's simply because of language skill problems.

So what's it going to be Microsoft?  Are you folks going to give us a definitive answer?  Or are you going to let this sort of simmer and allow wild speculation?  If that's what it is -- wild speculation.