Age of Empires III The WarChiefs Privacy Statement

Published: August 2006 At Microsoft, we're working hard to protect your privacy, while delivering products that bring you the perfor ance, power, and convenience you desire in your personal co puting! "his privacy state ent e#plains the data collection and use practices of Age of $ pires %%% & 'ar (hiefs $#pansion! "his disclosure focuses on a few specific features that send infor ation to and fro the %nternet! %t is not intended to be an e#haustive list! %t does not apply to other online or offline Microsoft sites, products, or services!
Information storage, processing, and release

%nfor ation that is collected by or sent to Microsoft ay be stored and processed in the )nited *tates or any other country in which Microsoft or its affiliates, subsidiaries, or agents aintain facilities! Microsoft abides by the safe harbor fra ework as set forth by the )!*! +epart ent of (o erce regarding the collection, use, and retention of data fro the $uropean )nion! Microsoft ay disclose infor ation about you if re,uired to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: -a. confor to the edicts of the law or co ply with legal process served on Microsoft or the site/ -b. protect or defend the rights or property of Microsoft and its fa ily of websites/ or -c. act in urgent circu stances to protect the personal safety of Microsoft e ployees, users of Microsoft software or services, or e bers of the public! Microsoft occasionally hires other co panies to provide li ited services on its behalf, such as providing custo er support, processing transactions, or perfor ing statistical analysis of reports! Microsoft will provide these co panies only the infor ation they need to deliver the service! "hey are re,uired to aintain the confidentiality of the infor ation and are prohibited fro using it for any other purpose!
Collection and use of information about your computer

"his software contains several %nternet0enabled features that collect standard infor ation fro your co puter -1standard co puter infor ation1., and ight collect additional infor ation needed for a specific feature and send it to Microsoft! *tandard co puter infor ation generally includes such infor ation as your %nternet Protocol -%P. address/ operating syste version/ browser version/ your hardware %+, which indicates the device anufacturer, device na e, and version/ and your regional and language settings! "he privacy details for each 'indows feature listed in this privacy state ent will disclose whether any additional infor ation is collected and how it is used, if the feature sends infor ation to Microsoft! %nfor ation that is collected by or sent to Microsoft ay be stored and processed in the )nited *tates or any other country in which Microsoft or its affiliates, subsidiaries, or agents aintain facilities!
Security practices

Microsoft is co itted to protecting the security of your infor ation! 'e use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your infor ation fro unauthori2ed access, use, or disclosure! 3or e#a ple, we store the infor ation you provide on co puter servers with li ited access that are located in controlled facilities!

ES !"ultiplayer Play
What this feature does

$*45Multiplayer Play allows you to 6oin others in a

Information collected, processed, or transmitted

ultiplayer environ ent via the %nternet!

'hen you choose $*4 and create a Multiplayer account, you will be asked to create a nickna e! "his nickna e will be shown to other players when you are signed into Multiplayer using $*4 and ay be displayed with your ga e statistics and presence status! *ince these na es ay be publicly displayed, you should not use your personal infor ation when creating the ! 7ou are also asked to provide an e ail address! 7our e ail address is only used by us to send you an e ail if you re,uest a forgotten password! 'hen 6oining a ga e on $*4, your %P Address is sent to Microsoft to establish the session! After you log into your account we also download infor ation about the file si2e of the ga e you are trying to 6oin to

ake sure that the version of the ga e you are playing atches the version of the ga e you are trying to 6oin! "his is to ensure that your ga e has not been odified in a way that would affect the ga e play e#perience for you and the rest of the Multiplayer co unity! 'hen we process ga e traffic we ay collect infor ation about your usage of $*45Multiplayer! "his infor ation can include such activities as ti es you sign0in to and sign0off fro $*45Multiplayer and ga e statistics like ga e score!

"icrosoft Error #eporting Service

Why does "icrosoft collect information about errors and problems$

"he infor ation helps Microsoft and 'indows partners diagnose proble s in the software you use and provide solutions! 8ot all proble s have solutions, but when solutions are available, they are offered as steps to solve a proble you9ve reported or as updates to install! As part of setup and installation, the Microsoft $rror :eporting *ervice sends back infor ation about setup or installation failures in order to atte pt to diagnose the proble ! "o help prevent proble s and ake software ore reliable, so e solutions are also included in service packs and future versions of the software!
%o& is information collected$

Many Microsoft software progra s, including this progra , are designed to work with the reporting service! %f a proble occurs in one of these software progra s, you are asked if you want to send a report to check for a solution! 7ou can view the details of the report before sending it, although so e files ight not be in a readable for at!
What types of information can be collected$

"he reporting service can collect infor ation about proble s that interrupt you while you use this progra , and about errors that occur behind the scenes! %t is i portant to diagnose errors that occur behind the scenes because these proble s, if left unsolved, ight cause additional proble s such as perfor ance or progra failures! :eports contain infor ation that is such as: ost useful for diagnosing and solving the proble that has occurred, ight be

'here the proble happened in the software or hardware! 4ccasionally, e pty files included as an initial indication of a proble ! "he type or severity of the proble , if known! 3iles that help describe the proble -typically, syste behavior before or after the proble occurred.!

or report0generated files about software version and language, device

;asic software and hardware infor ation -such as operating syste odels and anufacturers, or e ory and hard disk si2e.!

:eports ight unintentionally contain personal infor ation, but this infor ation is not used to identify you or contact you! 3or e#a ple, a report that contains a snapshot of co puter e ory ight include your na e, part of a docu ent you were working on, or data that you recently sub itted to a website! %f you are concerned that a report ight contain personal or confidential infor ation, you should not send the report! %f a report is likely to contain this type of infor ation, 'indows will ask if you want to send it, even if you have turned on auto atic reporting! "his gives you the opportunity to review the report before you send it!
Who can use the information and ho& can it be used$

Microsoft uses infor ation about errors and proble s to i prove 'indows and the software and hardware designed for use with 'indows operating syste s! Microsoft e ployees, contractors, vendors, and partners ay be provided access to infor ation collected by the reporting service! <owever, they ay use the infor ation only to repair or i prove the products that they publish or anufacture! 3or e#a ple, if an error report indicates that a third0party product is involved, Microsoft ay send that infor ation to the vendor of the product! "he vendor ay provide the infor ation to sub0vendors and partners/ however, all parties ust abide by the ter s of this privacy state ent! "o i prove the products that run on Microsoft software, Microsoft ay share aggregate infor ation about errors and proble s! Aggregate infor ation is used for statistical analysis and does not contain specific

infor ation fro individual reports, nor does it include any personal or confidential infor ation that have been collected fro a report!
About surveys and report trac'ing

ay

After you report a proble , you ight be asked to co plete a survey about the error e#perience! %f you choose to provide a phone nu ber or e0 ail address in response to the survey, your error report will no longer be anony ous! Microsoft ay contact you to re,uest additional infor ation to help solve the proble you reported! "o view your proble history or check for new solutions, go to Proble Panel or see <elp and *upport for ore infor ation! :eports and *olutions in (ontrol

(or more information

%f you have ,uestions about this privacy state ent, please contact us by sub itting your ,uestions online to Privacy 3eedback -https:55support! icrosoft!co 5co on5survey!asp#= scid>sw/en/?2?@Ashowpage>?Aws>'indowsBista.! 4r by postal ail: Age of $ pires %%% & "he 'ar(hiefs Privacy *tate ent c5o Microsoft Privacy :esponse (enter Microsoft (orporation 4ne Microsoft 'ay :ed ond, 'ashington CD0E2