Microsoft reveals real name and location of Xbox users to publishers

Microsoft continues its quest to increase transparency towards users. Now, the company wants to do this by offering users more information about the exact data that it collects from Xbox user and also the specific circumstances in which the data would be shared with publishers.

Microsoft revamps its data-sharing and privacy policy

Next time that Xbox user will boot up their consoles, they will be greeted with a page that reiterates the tech giant’s privacy and data-sharing policies. For instance, if you’re playing an Xbox Live-enabled game, Microsoft might share some information about your playing habits with the game or app’s publisher.

The information that might get shared includes age range, country, Xbox profile data such as your avatar or Gamertag and also information on the number of achievements that you managed to unlock and even how much time you spent in the game or app.

Social data such as your interactions and communication with other players might get shared as well, but it’s not very clear at the time whether this includes written or verbal messages. Your real name might get shared with the publishers as well. Microsoft also said that it doesn’t control what the publishers will decide to do with users’ data and their own privacy policies will determine this. The information can be found on Xbox store pages.

You can stop sharing app/games data

Fortunately, users will have the ability to choose not to share their private data with publishers. All you have to do is to revoke access to your console. If you want to learn more about Microsoft’s new privacy policy, you can check out this support page.

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