Microsoft said this week it plans to extend and enforce the new GDPR privacy protections to all of its customers, not just those based in EU countries.

"We will extend the rights that are at the heart of GDPR to all of our consumer customers worldwide," said Julie Brill, Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Microsoft, in a statement on Monday.

"Known as Data Subject Rights, they include the right to know what data we collect about you, to correct that data, to delete it and even to take it somewhere else," Brill said.

New controls added in acccount dashboard

Users can find these new controls for managing their data in every Microsoft account dashboard, in the Privacy section.

Microsoft has also updated its privacy statement for all users to reflect the addition of the GDPR-compatible rules. Changes to the privacy statement are summarized here.

The Windows OS maker has also launched a portal at microsoft.com/gdpr that lists its efforts in becoming GDPR compatible.

Microsoft is taking a different approach to GDPR

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation and is a new user and data privacy regulation slated to come into effect in the EU tomorrow, May 25, 2018 [Wikipedia article detailing protections; actual GDPR text].

The new regulation brings a wealth of protections to user privacy but is a nightmare for companies doing business in Europe. Some companies not willing to deal with the GDPR compliance headache, have been blocking access to their services for EU users based on IP addresses.

Others are officially shutting down service for EU users altogether. Examples include Verve (online marketing), Ragnarok Online (online game), Super Monday Night Combat (online game), Unroll (email subscription service), Brent Ozar Unlimited (software supplier), Tungle (gaming software provider), and Drawbridge (cross-device identity service).

Microsoft is the first tech giant that decides to take a different approach and extend GDPR to all users, instead of finding loopholes to skirt privacy protection regulations —like Facebook.