One of the clients of Microsoft Azure cloud was outraged by the careless attitude towards privacy and personal data at Microsoft and Canonical. Three hours after installing Ubuntu in the Azure cloud, a message from the sales department of Canonical arrived on the LinkedIn social network, advertising offers related to the use of Ubuntu in enterprises. The message clearly indicated that it was sent after the user had installed Ubuntu in Azure.
Microsoft stated that the agreement with publishers who distribute products in the Azure Marketplace implies the transmission of user information to them when the user launches their product in the cloud. This agreement allows the use of collected information for providing technical support, but prohibits the use of detailed contact information for marketing purposes. By connecting to Azure, the user agrees to the service terms.
Canonical confirmed that it received the contact details of the user who launched Ubuntu in Azure from Microsoft as part of the publisher agreement. The specified personal data was entered into the company's CRM. One of the new sales employees used this information to reach out to the user on LinkedIn, incorrectly phrasing their offer. To prevent such incidents, Canonical intends to review its sales organizational policy and the training methods for its sales personnel.
Source: opennet.ru
