Introduction
Updated June 28: Style support is here!! You can specify your own color scheme for various areas in the control.
The Windows Live Spaces control is a client-side browser JavaScript object that enables visitors to use their Windows Live Spaces photos with your Web site.
Instead of uploading the same photo to multiple sites for different value-added services, for example, the user could simply select one of his or her Windows Live Spaces photos from the Spaces control. The user saves time and effort in completing the order, and you gain the benefits of a photo store for your Web site without having to implement, maintain, and provision data storage and management UI on your servers. The user maintains control of his or her photos, while you focus on providing services with the photo the user gives you. (Read the privacy notice for the Windows Live Spaces control.)
See the Spaces control working in our live samples:
A key aspect of this control is maintaining secure data isolation between multiple domains. The control obtains the user’s photo URL from Windows Live servers through a secure HTTPS connection, and it releases only the data for the photos 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 users about how you will be using the data they share with you. The Windows Live Spaces control requires that you supply a URL to a privacy statement, and display that URL to the end user when he or she is prompted to approve transfer of the selected photo URL to your site. If you use the shared photo URL only for the current activity and then discard it, you should say so in your privacy statement. If you store the shared photo URL 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.
Given the growing governmental regulations worldwide concerning the handling of personal data (and all the disclosures that go with it), it’s much simpler for Web sites to use the data for the current activity, and then discard it.