Thanks WishX for the heads up. Hotmail were cought adding a pre-selected button that would allow user to decide how much of their personal information can be shared. The Inquirer had tracked down Hotmail spokesperson and found out the answers to their question. Here's the exact word from The Inquirer...
"The settings," he said, "have nothing to do with the amount of spam you may receive. We do not sell, rent or in any way pass out any information to third parties," he insisted, a few times in fact, just to make sure we understood.
He said he couldn't say off the top of his head when the buttons would have appeared in the accounts but said it happened " a couple of months ago."
Whiteway insists the data was not changed in any way. He said the adding of the buttons was a move that was designed to give "more flexibility" to Hotmail users.
So why were the buttons checked?
News source: The Inquirer - MSN coughs to adding mysteriously-appearing buttons
