Microsoft"s Outlook.com service has been live for over a year now, but it looks like people who don"t sign into their Microsoft Account in a timely fashion could find that their email addresses are freed up after a period of nearly a year.
According to PCWorld, Microsoft"s service agreement does day that users must sign onto their Microsoft Account at least once every 270 days. If they don"t, the agreement says their access could be canceled and their online data might be deleted. However, that same public agreement says nothing of Microsoft allowing others to access that now unused email address again.
A Microsoft statement claims "the email account is automatically queued for deletion from our servers. Then, after a total of 360 days, the email account name is made available again." Yahoo was recently found to be recycling email addresses to other users and got hit with critics who said that could be a security issue. Google says that it does not recycle Gmail addresses, even if a user deletes an account from their service.
Microsoft did not indicate if it plans to add a section in its online service agreement about their policy of recycling Outlook email addresses. In a statement, the company did say, "We listen closely to the feedback we receive from customers, and are always evaluating how to ensure Outlook.com is the best email service available."
Source: PCWorld | Image via Microsoft