Microsoft account
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Type of site
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Single sign-on |
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| Owner | Microsoft |
| Slogan(s) | One account for all things Microsoft |
| Website | account |
Microsoft account or MSA (previously known as Microsoft Passport,.NET Passport, Microsoft Passport Network, and Windows Live ID) is a single sign-on web service developed and provided by Microsoft that allows users to log into websites (like Outlook.com), devices (e.g. Windows 10 computers and tablets, Windows Phones, or Xbox consoles), and applications (including Visual Studio) using one account.
Microsoft Passport, the predecessor to Windows Live ID, was originally positioned as a single sign-on service for all web commerce. Microsoft Passport had received much criticism. A prominent critic was Kim Cameron, the author of the Laws of Identity, who questioned Microsoft Passport in its violations of those laws. He has since become Microsoft's Chief Identity Architect and helped address those violations in the design of the Windows Live ID identity meta-system. As a consequence, Windows Live ID is not positioned as the single sign-on service for all web commerce, but as one choice of many among identity systems.
In December 1999, Microsoft neglected to pay their annual $35 "passport.com" domain registration fee to Network Solutions. The oversight made Hotmail, which used the site for authentication, unavailable on December 24. A Linux consultant, Michael Chaney, paid it the next day (Christmas), hoping it would solve this issue with the downed site. The payment resulted in the site being available the next morning. In Autumn 2003, a similar good Samaritan helped Microsoft when they missed payment on the "hotmail.co.uk" address, although no downtime resulted.
In 2001, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's staff attorney Deborah Pierce criticized Microsoft Passport as a potential threat to privacy after it was revealed that Microsoft would have full access to and usage of customer information. The privacy terms were quickly updated by Microsoft to allay customers' fears.
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