The Windows Live Contacts gadget is a client-side browser JavaScript object that enables visitors to use their Windows Live contacts with your Web site.  Instead of typing a shipping address into a shopping cart form, for example, the user could simply select one of their Windows Live contacts from the contact gadget.  The user saves time and effort in completing the order, and you gain the benefits of an address book for your Web site without having to implement, maintain, and provision data storage and management UI on your servers.  The user maintains control of their personal contacts data, while you focus on providing services with data the user gives you. (Read the privacy notice for the Windows Live Contacts gadget.)

See the Windows Live Contacts gadget working in our live samples:

• Start a Party
• Map Your Contacts

A key aspect of this gadget is maintaining secure data isolation between multiple domains.  The gadget obtains the user’s contacts data from Windows Live servers via a secure HTTPS connection and releases to your Web page only the data for the contacts that the user selects and approves for sharing with your Web page.  In this way, users stay in control of their data, which offers them a level of confidence in dealing with third-party Web sites.  

Your Web site needs to make a clear statement to the user about how you will be using the data they share with you.  The Windows Live Contacts gadget requires that you supply a URL to a privacy statement and that you display that URL to the end user when they are prompted to approve transfer of the selected contact data to your site.  If you use the shared data only for the current activity and then discard it, you should say so in your privacy statement.  If you store the shared data on your servers for any purpose, you should say so in your privacy statement and provide means for the user to review or delete such stored data.