[Matt_Cutts]

The IE privacy policy is at http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/internet-explorer/product... . Look under the section titled "Suggested Sites." Here's the relevant section:

"When Suggested Sites is turned on, the addresses of websites you visit are sent to Microsoft, together with standard computer information. ... Information associated with the web address, such as search terms or data you entered in forms might be included. For example, if you visited the Microsoft.com search website at http://search.microsoft.com and entered "Seattle" as the search term, the full address http://search.microsoft.com/results.aspx?q=Seattle&qsc0=... will be sent."

Most people have little idea that allowing a feature called "Suggested Sites" will result in their Google searches and clicks being sent to Microsoft, or that Microsoft will use clicks on Google search results in Bing's ranking.

MSFT also uses something called the Microsoft CEIP (Customer Experience Improvement Program), and I think that's either opt-out already or they're making it opt-out in Windows 8--it's built into the "Use Express Settings," I believe.

Again, I haven't looked at this very recently, but if you're using a recent version of Windows and IE, you're probably sending your searches and clicks to Microsoft unless you've been very careful about how you configured your computer.

[sc0ttbeardsley]

Agreed about "most people have little idea...". I wish more companies were more honest and open about these things instead of burying it in the fine print. I wonder what would happen if you enable "Suggested Sites" but then install IE 9+ (since it appears to support the DNT flag) and select "Do Not Track". The pessimist in me suspects it will just turn off tracking for all non-msft experiments.

In any case, I think you've convinced me that my decision to use a non-windows OS and a non-IE browser was the correct one.

Thanks for mentioning this...